The beer glass is half full

Last week, SABMiller reported lower beer sales in Europe and strong growth in South Africa, but data from Euromonitor International - which tracks volume and sales growth in 80 countries worldwide - shows Europeans still have a strong taste for the brew.

The country that consumes the most beer per head is the Czech Republic, with 143 litres of the stuff consumed per person. That is more than twice as much as the average South African, who knocks back 66 litres each year.

South Africa's most popular beer remains Carling Black Label, followed by Castle Lager and Hansa Pilsener.

SABMiller does not reveal the individual brand volumes. But if everything were poured into the same mug, it would have been about 2.7billion litres last year, more than half of it sold in quarts.

Sales are growing, particularly in the premium segment that includes Castle Lite (up 21%) and Castle Milk Stout (up 9%).

According to Euromonitor, the British drank a little more than South Africans - about 67 litres per capita.

The Australians and the Russians drank less, at only 65 litres apiece.

In total, China consumed the most beer in the world, with 54billion litres quaffed.

Yet per person consumption in China was only four litres.

That hardly compares to Germany, where an estimated 110 litres were consumed per person, totalling nearly 9billion litres.

Spiros Malandrakis, senior analyst at Euromonitor, said alcohol sales have been declining in the UK for some time. But he noted the Brits are now drinking more expensive beverages.

Of the top 10 countries with growing beer sales, seven were nations with a Muslim majority, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Iran, according to figures from Pew Research Centre. Malandrakis said that in some of those countries, such as Iran, the growth is driven by non-alcoholic beers.

Beer volume sales in Guatemala topped world rankings with growth of nearly 20% in the last year, and Indonesia is next at 11.1%. The Middle East and Africa region had an overall growth rate of 4.8% as emerging markets developed a taste for the brew.

In the UK, Euromonitor paints a fairly depressing picture with lager, beer, dark beer and standard lager falling over the last three years. Only mixed and flavoured beers have increased sales.

Malandrakis said beer drinkers are getting older and slowing down. "On top of that, you have consumers slowly moving into spirits, especially younger consumers."

He mentioned the growth of craft beers as another factor.