Thursday 11 August 2016

UK beer exports 1946 – 1960

Numbers warning. There are lots and lots of numbers coming up. Why? I have them, so I’m going to use them.

There’s another good reason. Because they show the shift of British exports from the Empire to other markets. In particular, to Belgium.

The table is so big I’ve had to split in in two.

UK beer exports 1946 - 1953
destination 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953
Channel Islands 5,342 7,021 9,958 9,693 6,505 2,721 8,959 9,815
Gibraltar 5,698 7,077 6,958 7,609 8,530 8,693 8,183 8,325
Malta 414 521 673 897 336 624 445 484
Cyprus 2,593 2,312 2,112 2,538 4,002 2,712 2,099
British West Africa 1,574 5,797 18,044 34,626 33,811 35,593 50,636 58,049
British East Africa 1,361 2,624 7,316 13,391 4,014 4,341 1,900 1,511
Aden 50 1,284 2,327 4,200 2,684 2,006 2,897 5,927
Bahrein, Koweit, etc 594 5,141 7,813 4,099 4,039 5,073 4,756
India and Pakistan 69,278 8,130 17,075 18,076 15,333 11,890 9,451 5,617
British Malaya 26,270 6,377 10,463 12,258 11,666 14,412 6,028 5,447
Ceylon 2,648 7,686 3,565 6,669 6,363 5,605 5,656 8,624
Hong Kong 10,062 5,873 5,679 12,863 9,508 12,027 7,254 4,811
Australia 54 8,481 18,761 16,879 35,790 8,303 57
Canada 313 1,598 1,281 2,090 3,352 3,680 3,892
Bermuda 22 788 977 1,603 2,843 1,901 1,466 948
British West India Islands 251 1,045 15,087 14,009 15,459 15,213 16,112 17,123
British Guiana 38 175 1,991 2,752 3,871 3,247 6,056 6,594
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1,843 3,069 5,747 5,291 6,805 6,277 3,035
Irish Republic 221 3,280 11,327 6,201 4,225 5,223 4,966 4,674
Other British Countries 74 972 6,470 6,719 7,153 8,927 10,260 6,570
total British 123,303 64,047 138,511 187,280 163,198 186,411 166,314 158,358
Belgium 1,405 3,414 34,288 33,786 33,362 45,733 50,237 55,240
other non-Commonwealth 62,710 42,219 32,299 33,061 24,650 43,289 50,839 71,341
total foreign 64,115 45,633 66,587 66,847 58,012 89,022 101,076 126,581
total 187,418 109,680 205,098 254,127 221,210 275,433 267,390 284,939
Source:
“1955 Brewers' Almanack”, pages 58-59.


UK beer exports 1954 - 1960
destination 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960
Channel Islands 11,307 11,486 12,505 14,301 16,006
Gibraltar 9,648 9,147 8,291 9,110 8,552 8,243 8,440
Malta 353 344 2,220 1,778 2,366 1,684 2,119
Cyprus 1,965 3,241 10,712 8,700 20,965 14,048 9,200
British West Africa 38,051 46,050 47,811 44,705 30,079 16,656 11,928
British East Africa 1,602 639 874 929 1,243 2,044 832
Aden 5,271 4,240 5,944 5,250 8,071 7,189 10,496
Bahrein, Koweit, etc 4,691 6,176 5,714 6,227 6,686 8,608 10,092
India and Pakistan 5,347 4,625 4,961 1,518 746 889 1,262
British Malaya 3,862 3,891 2,811 2,689 3,435 4,996 6,172
Ceylon 1,938 2,425 2,574 2,534 2,307 1,638 1,306
Hong Kong 3,975 2,738 2,074 2,239 2,108 1,862 1,516
Australia 58 16 3 11 88 158 141
Canada 3,674 3,992 3,785 4,041 4,657 4,420 5,452
Bermuda 1,098 1,034 1,136 890 990 920 941
British West India Islands 15,904 18,730 20,806 21,416 20,953 19,618 16,493
British Guiana 6,809 8,565 6,273 5,680 2,414 2,527 4,347
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 1,853 1,213 199 * * * *
Irish Republic 6,251 8,450 7,300 7,039 5,684 6,394 6,589
Other British Countries 6,234 5,127 4,751 7,350 8,174 5,848 5,285
total 129,891 142,129 150,744 146,407 145,524 107,742 102,611
Belgium 59,006 56,346 62,776 71,507 86,318 88,077 100,200
other non-Commonwealth 59,127 26,938 25,357 21,475 16,843 17,536 19,682
total foreign 118,133 83,284 88,133 92,982 103,161 105,613 119,882
total 248,024 225,413 238,877 239,389 248,685 213,355 222,493
Source:
“1962 Brewers' Almanack”, pages 56-57.

I’m surprised at how well exports held up after WW II. Peaking in 1953 at 284,000 barrels, before sliding back to 222,000 barrels at the end of the decade. Exports were also at a similar level to before the war:

UK beer exports 1934 - 1939
1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
216,293 232,839 325,058 340,757 281,284 283,974
Source:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 57


But there was a steady increase in the percentage exported to non-British territories after 1950:

UK exports to foreign countries
1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953
34.21% 41.61% 32.47% 26.30% 26.22% 32.32% 37.80% 44.42%
1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960
47.63% 36.95% 36.89% 38.84% 41.48% 49.50% 53.88%


As the percentage increased so did the amount exported to Belgium, which by 1960 was received almost 50% of all UK exports. No wonder there are so many analyses of beer sold in Belgium in the Whitbread Gravity Book. Whitbread were big exporters so the Belgian market would have been very important for them.

The biggest falls are in regions from which the UK was withdrawing, such as Africa, India. The numbers are pretty steady in the Caribbean where the UK hadn’t started granting independence. Some of the reduction is probably due to the departure of British troops and administrators.

There must be something behind the sudden slump in exports to Australia. Probably some sort of legislation or import tax.

It’s interesting to note that most other places whose relationship with the UK remained much the same – Gibraltar, Channel Islands, Malta, Bermuda and Canada – exports remained stable or grew. Which confirms to me that the drop in exports to some countries was mostly due to changes in the political situation.

Next: which export destination paid the most per barrel.

5 comments:

StuartP said...

I wonder who was doing the drinking in those Muslim countries.
Ex-pats or locals?

Ron Pattinson said...

StuartP,

I'm sure it was the servants of empire: servicemen and officials.

Jeff Renner said...

Ron-I'm still not getting all,of the columns on these wide tables, like these and the ones recently. Can you include an image when they're wide? I really do follow them!

Lee said...

Was maybe the huge amount of British beer in Belgium filling a hole left by the Germans having ravaged as many of the local breweries as they could,to make ammunition and such?

Alan said...

1950s Canada saw plenty of immigrants like my parents. My neightbourhood of suburban Toronto was entirely British accented as a child. They all drank UK beer and spirits in their suburban backyards.