WC football salvaged AB Inbev Belgium's fiscal year

4.5 million hectoliters in 2014

Belgian magazine Trends was able to browse internal documents containing preliminary figures, which showed an overall growth of several thousand of hectoliters in 2014. The overall volume reached 4.5 million hectoliters, mostly thanks to Jupiler, Leffe and Stella Artois.

The Red Devils’s successful campaign at the World Championship football in Brazil was a huge part of the sales growth, clearly visible in the sales spike in June and the subsequent sales drop once the team was eliminated from the competition. The lukewarm temperatures in July and August also meant people drank less beer. According to Trends, sales dropped 15 % in August 2014 compared to August 2013.

Structurally weak market

There are structural problems with the market on the whole: AB InBev’s Belgian beer sales dropped from 5.6 million hectoliters in 2000 to 4.5 million hectoliters in 2014. Only in 2003, 2011 and 2014 did the company manage any sales increases, as every other year, sales slumped.

Lower consumption levels were the reason AB InBev announced last week to raise its prices, in an attempt to maintain its turnover. The company has stated it needs that turnover to develop new products.