Canadian Packaging Machinery Market Research Report - PMMI

4.0 THE BEVERAGE INDUSTRY
4.1 INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
In 2001, the last year for which complete industry data is available, beverage industry
production reached $C9.5 billion, a 0.07 per cent increase over 2000. Beverage
industry shipments accounted for approximately 1.8 percent of the value of Canada’s
total manufacturing shipments. In 2001, Canada’s beverage manufacturing industry
was comprised of 563 establishments that employed approximately 30,000 people. It
should be noted that, for the purposes of this report, the traditional definition of the
beverage industry has been expanded to include bottled water, juice, and tea and
coffee manufacturers.
Data from the Brewers Association of Canada indicate that per capita consumption of
beer, spirits, and wine was 105.54 litres in 2002, a 1.78 percent increase over 2001.
The per capita consumption calculation is based on the adult population 15 years
and older. Of the 2002 total, per capita beer consumption was 86.06 litres, a 1.27
percent increase over 2001, per capita spirits consumption was 6.51 litres, a 0.4
percent increase over 2001, and per capita wine consumption was 12.97 litres, a
3.35 per cent increase over 2001. The increase in per capita spirits consumption can
be attributed to an increase in the sale of spirit based coolers, which represent 32.5
percent of total spirit sales in Canada.
Almost one-half of Canadian beer is brewed in Ontario, slightly more than onequarter
is brewed in Quebec, and almost 20 percent is brewed in the Western
provinces. The most popular packaging format for domestically brewed beer is
bottles. Beer sold in bottles accounted for 68.1 percent of the domestic beer market
in 2002, a 1.73 percent decrease from 2001, and beer sold in cans accounted for
21.1 percent of the market in 2002, an 8.21 percent increase over the prior year.
Beer sold as draught accounted for 10.8 percent of the market in 2002, a 3.57
percent decrease from 2001.
The majority of the distillery industry is located in Ontario where more than 60
percent of spirits are distilled. The majority of Canada’s wine industry is located in
British Columbia and Ontario, as these two provinces produce 98 percent of
Canada’s premium wine volume.
Canada’s alcoholic beverage manufacturers, for the most part, supply the domestic
market, where 82.5 percent of their output is shipped. The remainder is exported.
Almost 45 percent of total alcoholic beverage exports are composed of one
commodity: whiskies. Ninety percent of Canadian whisky exports go to the United
States.
The bottled water industry is a small but rapidly growing sub-sector of the beverage
industry as many Canadians drink bottled water on a regular basis. The majority of
the bottling plants are located in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario and British
Columbia. In 2001, according to statistics published in the March/April 2002 issue of
Western Grocer Magazine, per capita consumption of bottled water in Canada was
SMG/Columbia Consulting Group Page 133