MillerCoors Predicts Beer Sales to 2012

Dear Client:MillerCoors chief Tom Long sees slightly slowing U.S. beer sales in our future, but the good news it that beer will slow down less rapidly in the downturn than wine and spirits. MillerCoors sees beer growth slow to 0.6% a year in 2009-2012 from 0.9% in 2004-2008, compared with a steeper fall in spirits growth to 1.1% from 2.7%. MC predicts craft beers will grow 2.9% per year while imports will be up 2.3% per year. That's slower growth