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.