The growth of the ready-to-drink (RTD) category and hard seltzers has paved the way for a resilient US beverage alcohol market throughout the pandemic, according to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis. US alcohol beverage volumes are expected to rise over 2% in 2020. Out of the 19 key markets that IWSR assessed, only the US and Canada are expected to expand their consumption for the year, while total volumes across all markets are expected to fall 8%.
The US alcohol beverage market also benefited from strong volume increases in the e-commerce and retail sector. However, those gains could not offset the 44.5% drop in dollar value lost from on-premise closures. Overall, total beverage alcohol value is likely to fall -11.8% by year-end.
Source: IWSR, November 2020