Drinktec 2013, the “World’s Leading Trade Fair for the Beverage and Liquid Food Industry”, which kicked off on September 16th in Munich at the Messe München exhibition center, has been touted as a success, according to exhibition director Petra Westphal.
Westphal tells Beverage Daily, “Drinktec certainly has a very long history – it goes back to the year 1951. Back then it was just a show for the beer industry only, and ever since then we have developed into a world-leading show for the entire beverage and liquid food industry.”
The ultimate beer, or um, liquid food, convention had been expected to attract over 1,400 exhibitors from over 70 countries, and roughly 60,000 visitors from more than 170 countries. Drinktec 2013 is being held in an era when the world beer market is projected to exceed 2 billion hectoliters (200 billion liters) for the first time.
Interestingly, China is expected to comprise one quarter of the world’s beer consumption in 2013, and the entire Asian market will represent 40% by 2015. China and Brazil will see their beer-drinking powers grow roughly 5% a year through 2016, while U.S., Russian and German markets will decline by 0.5 to 1.5%.
Craft beer is making waves in the U.S., with 2012 production volume increasing by 15%, with revenues up 17%. During the previous year, these gains were 13% and 15% respectively. Overall, craft beer comprised 6.5% of the entire 2012 market volume and 10.2% of the monetary value. Clearly craft beer is gaining popularity, as in the 1970’s, there were only 89 craft brewing facilities in the country. At present, there are 2,403, with 2,347 of those being brew pubs, microbreweries or regional craft breweries.
It’s not clear if the magical, Australian hydration-beer was featured at the expo.
Image courtesy of Drinktec.