Jakarta, ThedailyID — The global alcohol industry has lost $830 billion in market value over the past four years. Consumers are drinking less, while demand for alcohol-free alternatives continues to grow.
A Bloomberg index tracking about 50 major alcohol producers shows the sector has dropped 46 percent from its June 2021 peak. The decline has erased hundreds of billions of dollars in shareholder value.
The downturn has hit many of the world’s biggest beverage companies. Diageo, owner of Johnnie Walker and Guinness, trades at its lowest level in more than a decade.
Pernod Ricard, Rémy Cointreau, Brown-Forman, and Treasury Wine Estates have also posted steep losses. China’s Kweichow Moutai, once the world’s most valuable spirits producer, has fallen more than 40 percent from its 2021 high.
Constellation Brands, backed by Berkshire Hathaway, has also lost about 40 percent since Warren Buffett’s company started buying shares.
Analysts say the decline reflects a structural shift rather than a temporary slowdown.
“There is a structural change going on: people are drinking less,” Morgan Stanley analyst Sarah Simon told Bloomberg.
Barclays analyst Laurence Whyatt said the industry has suffered an impact four times greater than the decline seen during the global financial crisis.
Consumer data supports that view. A Gallup survey found that 54 percent of US adults now drink alcohol. That is the lowest level since the polling organisation began tracking the figure in 1939.
The share stood at 62 percent in 2023 and 58 percent in 2024. For the first time, most Americans also believe moderate drinking can be harmful. The shift follows a US Surgeon General advisory linking alcohol to seven types of cancer.
Alcohol producers are adapting to the trend instead of resisting it. Diageo acquired Ritual Zero Proof, while Moët Hennessy invested in French alcohol-free sparkling wine producer French Bloom.
