Imports Up 1.4% in 2004

The Beer Instutute's Lester Jones issued final import figures last week, and import volume ended up the year up 1.4% in 2004, not a bad showing considering that: 1. The Corona price increase slowed Mexican sales, although that was somewhat mitigated by a January buy-in last year. Mexican import volume was up 4.2%. 2. Beer sales in general were sluggish, particularly on-premise, where imports tend to shine.Still, it's a tough pill to swallow considering imports have been up double digits