Good afternoon,

Linked below is the State Shipments for October 2018.

Here are a few key findings:

• Total U.S. beer shipment volume declined by 1.7% during October 2018, which had one more selling day than October 2017.
• On a selling day adjusted basis, October’s beer shipment volume was down 5.9%, bringing the year-to-date total to negative 1%.
• Many distributors had above average inventory levels heading into October in anticipation of the fall price increase, which hit later in the year than it had in 2017 in some parts of the country.
• Additionally, many distributors built up inventories in September to avoid potential shortages from planned changes to supply chain systems, further deflating October’s shipment performance.
• Oklahoma showed unusually strong performance in October, when several changes to the state’s alcohol laws went into effect. These included liquor stores selling refrigerated alcohol and grocery stores selling chilled beer over 3.2% ABW.  In anticipation of the changes, Oklahoma distributors sought to close out inventories of 3.2% beer during the last several months and restocked with full strength beer in October.

If you have any questions, please reach out.

Cheers,

Michael Uhrich
Chief Economist