For the first time ever, the value of beer imported into the United States was greater in 2020 than the value for wine. Covid-19 story? Actually, no. One-year anomaly or longer-lasting development? It just might be the latter. There’s irony to the story, since the company largely responsible for those beer imports is not a Mexican company but an American one, a company that, while known within the industry, might be unfamiliar to its customers. And there’s a bit of mystery, since the decline in 2020 wine imports suggests a relationship with Covid-19 that doesn’t hold up. To be sure, there are a few other factors at work, including a domestic wine industry that has matured greatly over the last generation and a legacy domestic beer industry that hasn’t, allowing it to get squeezed by imports (as well as craft beers). One thing is for sure, in less than a decade, wine imports have slipped from being 40% greater in value than beer imports to being 3% less. Let’s start with beer, which is a little simpler to understand. Beer used to come from a variety of countries. In 2020, Mexico accounted for a record 72.27% of all U.S. beer imports during a record year for all beer imports, which totaled $5.75 billion.
It marked the ninth consecutive year for record U.S. beer imports and the 12th consecutive year that Mexico increased market share.
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