
Love it or hate it, there’s no beer that says America like Budweiser. Earlier this year, the ubiquitous lager was dethroned as one of America’s favorite beers, with Americans instead preferring their lighter counterpart Bud Light and other light beers. And while the obsession at home seems to be waning, sales of the beer in China are up—so far up they’ve officially eclipsed the brand’s sales in the U.S.
According to a recent report by RaboResearch, an intercontinental firm that studies global financial markets as well as food and agribusiness, beer drinkers in China are now consuming more Budweiser than any other country in the world.
It’s not only China where imported foreign beer is becoming more attractive to consumers. Around the world, patrons are viewing foreign beer as a premium product. Francois Sonneville, a senior analyst of beverages for RaboResearch, said that with the worldwide increase of tourism and migration, beer drinkers are attracted to foreign beers.
While U.S. beer sales are increasing in China, the Brewers Association reports that U.S. beer sales were down in 2017 by 1 percent, while craft beer sales grew at a rate of 5 percent by volume.