Coopers Brewery has built on their massive year of announcements in 2012 with the revelation that their home state of South Australia is about to be eclipsed as the largest domestic market for their products.
According to figures coming out of the brewery, New South Wales is set to be the biggest market for the family-owned brewery, topping sales in SA for the month of January (2013) for the first time ever.
According to Coopers Chairman Glen Cooper, there is no doubt in his mind that NSW will begin to eclipse SA on a regular basis from now on.
“January was the first month that more Coopers beer was sold in NSW than South Australia (two million litres verses 1.6 million litres),” he says. “But we don’t think it will be long before this becomes common place. Sales in NSW have been increasing at double digit or close to double digit rates for the past 10 years and are continuing to grow strongly.”
He went on to say that four of the five biggest Coopers-selling outlets in Australia are in NSW: Steyne Hotel (Manly) Manly Wharf Hotel (Manly), Beach Road Hotel (Bondi), and the Great Northern Hotel (Byron Bay). The top five is rounded out by the Exeter Hotel in Adelaide – the biggest seller.
The growth of the market for the brand is interesting, especially considering the overall dip in the beer market across the country. As Dr Tim Cooper commented at the Beer & Brewer dinner this week in Adelaide, the average consumption of beer per person, per annum used to be over 100 litres, these days that figure is lucky to be just less than 80 litres per annum.
Total beer sales for Coopers during 2012 increased to a record 68.8 million litres, and the company reports that it is on track to increase sales to more than 70 million litres by June 30, 2013.
The state by state sales percentages at the end of April this year were:
South Australia 29.6%
NSW 25.8%
Victoria/Tas 16.1%
Queensland 13.6%
Western Australia 10.3%
Northern Territory 2.5%