Ukbrewingindustry
...multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. More than 133 billion liters (35 billion gallons) are sold per year producing total global revenues of $294.5 billion (£147.7 billion) in 2006.
InBev is the largest beer producing company, followed by SABMiller which became the second largest brewing company when South African breweries acquired Miller Brewing in 2002. Anheuser-Busch holds the 3rd spot.
Today there is something of a revival in the small brewery (sometimes now referred to as the micro-brewery) producing traditional ales, or modern versions of them. Globalisation though, has seen the merging and takeover of some of the largest British breweries, and the diversification of the leisure and drinks sectors.
Brewing giants such as Heineken, Baltic Beverage Holdings (a conglomerate comprising the former Scottish & Newcastle brewery and Carlsberg) and Interbrew-Ambev (a merging of the largest Belgian and Brazilian brewers) are truly global players. Britain may consider itself one of the natural homes of beer, but today's brewing industry presents new and different challenges in the retention of British influence in the world's beer market.
Following the demise of the `big six' domestic brewers, multinationals took control of the UK market, although the two largest UK-based brewers Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) and Diageo (the brewer of Guinness) are, themselves, multinational forces in a globalised beer market. The other brewers making up a new `big six' in the UK are: InBev of Belgium; Molson Coors and Anheuser-Busch (of Budweiser fame), both US-based; and Carlsberg of Denmark. InBev brews the top-selling UK brand, Stella Artois, and Molson Coors owns Carling, the leading standard-strength lager.
Foreign control of more than 50% of the market has deepened the long trend towards international...
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