OTTAWA, ON – Brewery trade organization Beer Canada has announced the release of Industry Trends 2018, its latest annual update that looks at the domestic and international beer market and details growth in the number of breweries, changes in sales, trends in packaging, and more.
Some highlights of this year’s report include the following:
- There were 995 licensed breweries operating in Canada at the end of 2018, an increase of 21.8% from the 2017 count of 817.
- There are now 3.4 breweries per every 100,000 legal drinking age adults in the country, an increase from 2.8 per 100,000 in 2017.
- Despite the increased number of breweries, Canadian beer production decreased overall in 2018 – down 3.4% compared to 2017. However, domestic sales were up 0.3%, while import sales dropped 3.4%, combining for an overall decline of 0.3% in total beer sales for the year.
- Cans continue to increase in popularity as a packaging format, now holding a 62% share of the market, an increase from 60% in 2017. Bottle sales dropped from 30% to 28%, while draught remained essentially unchanged at 10%.
For more details, including provincial and territorial breakdowns of the statistics, see the full update on the Beer Canada website.