Beverage can sales exceed 2 billion due to World Cup

Watching football is thirsty work. It’s estimated that sales of aluminium beverage cans exceeded the 2 billion mark over the four weeks of the 2014 FIFA World Cup - a 35% increase over the same period last year.

According to research from Nielsen, beer consumption alone may have increased by 20% in households where people were watching the games. Combined with record consumption of soft drinks and other beverages, aluminium rolling and recycling company Novelis anticipates that total can consumption exceeded the 2 billion mark.

“The World Cup has caused an unusual uptick in our winter sales, adding the equivalent of a peak summer month’s sales and creating our highest winter sales season on record for beverage can sheet,” said Tadeu Nardocci, senior vice president of Novelis and president of Novelis South America.

During the period from 12 June to 13 July, overall beverage can sales in Brazil are estimated to have increased by 4%. This is in addition to the 6-9% projected growth for the can market in Brazil, which is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. During 2013, 21.5 billion cans were sold in Brazil, according to the Brazilian Association of Highly Recyclable Cans Manufacturers (ABRALATAS).

The leading supplier of aluminium can stock for the beverage can market in South America, Novelis also owns and operates Brazil’s largest aluminium recycling facility. Brazil has an impressive 98% recycling rate for beverage cans and is the world leader in aluminium can recycling.