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08-08-2013, 08:11
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We're back in India again. With another lot of numbers. I'd like to claim that I've justt found them, but in fact I published them in 2010 (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.nl/2010/11/brewing-in-19th-century-india.html). I'd forgotten all about them, to be honest. That's what happens when you post as often as I do. No way I can remember all my posts.

Not that I'm just blandly repeating a former post. I've fiddled the the numbers into a table and then fiddled with them some more to bring out their full value. I hope you appreciate the effort.

You can see that there were breweries all over India, from Ceylon in the south to Rawalpindi in the north. In all there were 25 breweries in India in 1889, up from 21 in 1881*. Between 1881 and 1889 production rose from 2,448,711 gallons (68,020 barrels) to 5,165,138 gallons (143,476 barrels), so more than doubled**.

It might look as if brewing was booming in India, but that wasn't the case. The growth all took place in the 1880's and after that production levelled off at 5 to 6 million gallons (139,000 to 167,000 barrels) per year***.

The reason for this plateauing is probably pretty simple: market saturation. The breweries only really sold to Europeans, whoi were only a small fraction of India's population. In fact, it was even more limited than that, with the majority of Indian-brewed beer being sold to the government for the use of British troops. Of the 7.6 million gallons of beer available in 1889 (imports and local production combined) 3.8 million gallons were sold to the government. About exactly 50%.

Here's a table withe the output per brewery:



Indian breweries in 1889


Brewery
location
output (gallons)
output (barrels)


The Murree Brewery Co.
Murree
1,148,949
31,915


The Murree Brewery Co.
Rawalpindi
205,632
5,712


The Murree Brewery Co.
Ootacamund
336,558
9,349


The Murree Brewery Co.
Bangalore
267,408
7,428


The Murree Brewery Co.
Quetta




The Murree Brewery Co.
Ceylon




Meakin & Co.
Poona
501,816
13,939


Meakin & Co.
Kasauti
450,000
12,500


Meakin & Co.
Chakrata




Meakin & Co.
Darjiling




Meakin & Co.
Dalhousie




Meakin & Co.
Ranikhet




Dyer & Co.
Lucknow
340,038
9,446


Dyer & Co.
Mandalay
232,804
6,467


Dyer & Co.
Solon
133,272
3,702


Mackinnon & Co.
Mussoorie
183,591
5,100


Orown Brewery Co.
Mussoorie
411,183
11,422


Naini Tal Brewery Co.
Naini Tal




total (of figures listed)

4,211,251
116,979


total

5,165,138
143,476


Source:


"A dictionary of the economic products of India, Volume 5" by Sir George Watt, 1891, pages 126-127.



You can see that the three largest brewing companies owned several breweries. Between them, the Murree Brewery, Meakin and Dyer owned 17 of the 25 breweries in India. Their share of the output was even greater than that:




Indian beer output by brewing group in 1889



output (barrels)
% of total


The Murree Brewery Co.
54,404
37.92%


Meakin & Co.
26,439
18.43%


Dyer & Co.
19,614
13.67%


Mackinnon & Co.
5,100
3.55%


Orown Brewery Co.
11,422
7.96%


total (for 5 breweries)
116,979
81.53%


total output
143,476



Source:


"A dictionary of the economic products of India, Volume 5" by Sir George Watt, 1891, pages 126-127.



The top three accounted for about 70% of output, the top five 81%. It's clear that the industry was highly concentrated. The brewery in Murree alone was responsible for almost a quarter of Indian beer production.

Now wasn't that fascinating. I wonder if I've any other similar numbers lying asround?





* "A dictionary of the economic products of India, Volume 5" by Sir George Watt, 1891, page 126.
** "A dictionary of the economic products of India, Volume 5" by Sir George Watt, 1891, page 126.
*** Aberdeen Journal - Saturday 15 April 1911, page 9; Sheffield Independent - Friday 06 September 1895, page 6.

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