British beer exports 1913 - 1920

Remember those posts about George Younger's export trade? Well here's a follow-up with a few more numbers. For the whole of the UK, but better than nothing.

The figures confirm what was seen at George Younger: exports to Australia were greatly reduced after WW I. They dropped from almost 90,000 barrels in 1913 to just 15,000 in 1920. I think we can guess what happened. When British beer became unavailable due to the war, Australian-brewed beer replaced it. After the war a large part of British beer's market was gone forever.

Browsing through the other figures, I was surprised to see how much beer was still being shipped to India. And, while the absolute quantity might have declined post-war, the percentage of exports that went to India remained constant, at around 15%.

Also telling are the countries selected for individual inclusion. All were part of the British Empire.  While these accounted for 44% of exports in 1913, in 1920 it was just 33%. Looks as if the market for British beer was moving away from the Empire.Which is reflected in a change in the countries included in the Brewers' Journal table during 1921. Belgium and France were added.

British Beer exports 1913 - 1920
	barrels			percentage
	1920	1919	1913	1920	1919	1913
To Egypt	9,796	10,408	20,530	2.51%	4.49%	3.13%
British S. Africa	3,302	464	5,253	0.85%	0.20%	0.80%
British India	60,751	23,776	100,181	15.57%	10.26%	15.28%
Straits Settlements	22,063	7,928	37,740	5.65%	3.42%	5.76%
Ceylon	2,154	956	2,335	0.55%	0.41%	0.36%
Australia	15,459	4,812	89,013	3.96%	2.08%	13.58%
New Zealand	2,717	477	9,598	0.70%	0.21%	1.46%
Brit. West India Islands	13,688	5,161	21,901	3.51%	2.23%	3.34%
Other Countries	260,322	177,691	368,910	66.71%	76.70%	56.28%
Total	390,252	231,673	655,461	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Source:
Brewers' Journal 1921, page 24

I'll be coming back to exports. I've just noticed how many untabulated figures I have knocking around. I must knock them into tables.