• Beer: Market SizeThe French market for beer has grown by 1.3% since 2002 to reach a value over €2.5 billion (US$3.0 billion) in 2003.

• Beer: Market SectorsStandard/economy lager was the largest sector in value terms with a 44% of share of the market in 2003, registering a value of €1.1 billion.

• Beer: Share of MarketScottish & Newcastle remained the leading player in 2002, with a share of 34.4%, up from 33.8% in 2001.

• Beer: Marketing ActivityTotal expenditure on advertising amounted to around €69.6 million in 2003.

• Beer: Corporate OverviewSales of beer in France are highly concentrated, with the top three domestic brewers accounting for 76% of volume sales in 2002, while the companies owning these brewers accounted for 73.5% of total volume sales in the same year.

• Beer: Scottish & Newcastle PlcScottish & Newcastle’s turnover declined by 3.6% between 2001 and 2002 to reach almost £4.2 billion.
Full-year figures for 2003 were unavailable at the time of writing.

• Beer: Heineken nvHeineken's turnover for 2003 amounted to €9.2 billion, an increase of 9.1% on the previous year.

• Beer: Interbrew nv saInterbrew's turnover in 2003 was worth just over €7 billion, up by 0.2% on 2002.

• Beer: DistributionSupermarkets/hypermarkets remained the major distribution format for off-trade sales of beer over the review period, accounting for an estimated 74.2% of volume sales in 2003, up from 73.5% in 1998.

• Beer: Consumer ProfilePer capita consumption of beer in France remains among the lowest in Europe, at an estimated 41 liters in 2003, compared to almost 45 liters in 1997.

• Beer: Market ForecastsThe market is forecast to decline by 2.7% over the forecast period to reach a value of around €2.4 billion (US$2.8 billion) in 2008.

• Beer: Sector ForecastsStandard/economy lager is set to retain the largest share of the market, with an expected value share of 55% in 2008, registering a value of €1.3 billion.