Good news for trade professionals: Italians prefer light Italian beers!
According to AssoBirra’s 2018 Annual Report, general beer sales grew by 3.2%, thanks to a legion of beer consumers and enthusiasts of draft beer dispensing equipment. Thinking that beer consumption – constantly ousted by wine on Italian tables – could explode in Italy seemed impossible only a short while ago. Even more encouraging: the 6.6% growth inexports (as opposed to imports only up 1.2%) and production up 4.7%.
Over the last 5 years, the “special” beers grew by 115%, whilst traditional beers are being drunk increasingly also in autumn and winter, which is confirmation that beer consumption is becoming less seasonal.Curiosity, entrepreneurship and the desire of experiment are the key factors of the art of brewery expansion.The entire sector has benefited from these figures, from agriculture, where Italian malt production has increased (+5.5%), to distribution, to employment.
The growth in demand has created about 700 new jobs in the industry. Italy is now 9th in Europe in terms of production volumes, whereas it is in 5th place in terms of numbers of breweries.
Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Tuscany are in descending order the regions with the greatest number of microbreweries. Campania is the leading region in the south with 55 businesses making craft beers and running brew pubs. And it is on this latest aspect of the growth factor in our sector that Celli wants to focus on.
The recent but impetuous growth of agricultural beer production in Italy represents, on the one hand, a peculiarity in the international framework of the "craft beer revolution", on the other hand, a real opportunity for diversification of production and income for many agricultural Italian entrepreneurs. And this is an opportunity that still has ample room for development, especially in terms of quantitative growth and qualitative improvement of the cereal matrix. In Italy over 80% of barley cultivation is still destined for zootechnical use and that the conditions for a substantial increase in the areas to be allocated exist in many regions and territories. to brewing barley.
The presence of a small and highly standardized number of types of malt produced and traded internationally suggests the existence of a still unexplored market potential for those micro-alterations which, linked to specific territories, are able to transform small quantities of cereals with qualitative characteristics at the same time peculiar and very high for the production of craft beers. The research and production of new Italian varieties of barley malt, to make craft beers even more "local" is only at the beginning.
This would allow to significantly improve the sustainability of the supply chain, through the creation of a national supply chain, from the cultivation of barley to its transformation into malt. The opportunity to explore these potentials should motivate coordinated political action between the Italian regions and the various institutions involved (for example, research centers).
Despite being among the most historic and virtuous, the Italian chain of breeding barley and its subsequent malting - explained Antonio Catalani, vice president of AssoBirra with responsibility for Supply Chains and Food Safety - has never been fully understood and adequately so far. supported by the institutions Italy imports two thirds of its malt needs and as an Association we have been firmly asking for years that all those agricultural supply chains that meet both the traceability requirements of the raw material and the concepts of sustainability, diversification and soil protection be supported. On the eve of the CAP reform, we hope that the brewing barley production chain can be supported on an equal footing with the others.
The Celli Group strongly believes that consumers deserve a unique and engaging experience. The Group drink dispensing equipment is the result of a constant technological search for innovation; just like all of our types of beertowers, beer faucets, beer dispenser, beer tap, beer pump and beer cooling system - with their iconic and distinctive look - which are the result of a stylish and sophisticated design, a trademark for the places where the best ice cold beer is served. With its perfect draughting method, beer comes out with the right consistency, served at the ideal temperature, and preserving the organoleptic quality of the drink in the keg.
Why should the consumer experience finish once the beer is over?
Thanks to the new IoT digital frontiers, today the entire Celli drinking experience can be recounted, shared, programmed and monitored. In addition, the attention to visual impact of the beer dispensing equipment and consumer experience is combined with the search for solutions anticipating industry trends, such as the use of more efficient and eco-friendly refrigerant gases, and the constant technical evolution of taps and tapping accessories.
We would like to further consolidate microbreweries in Italy as an employment and business opportunity for many young people. Over the next months, our Association – says Matteo Minelli, Vice President with Delegation to Microbreweries – wants to implement a series of actions to foster healthy competitiveness between microbreweries, and support the development of a sector that has grown by 824% in the last 10 years, and which today accounts for 3.1% of Italian beer production.