Joe Thompson on Closing the Volume Gap

Dear Client:The industry has a volume problem, says Independent Beverage Group chief Joe Thompson, and it's a "fundamental" problem we need to address. He predicts that total beer industry volume will be down -1% through 2020, driven by declines at Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors and "aggressive pricing." "My fear is we've lost consumers...and somewhere down the road we're going to pay the price for that," Joe told listeners at an NBWA breakout session this week.INDUSTRY HEADWINDS. Millennials are key beer consumers,