(Washington, DC) – On Thursday, the Beer Institute published an unofficial estimate of domestic tax paid by beer brewers for the month of February 2013. (Note: BI estimates come about thirty days before the official TTB data is released).
February’s projected drop of 6.7% or nearly one million barrels in taxable removals is startling at first glance though 2012 was a leap year so you can chop that number in half after accounting for the extra day. The 2013 estimate is approximately flat with 2011.
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The February 2013 domestic tax paid estimate is 12,800,000 barrels. February 2012 removals were 13,716,000 (revised) for a decrease of 6.7%.
Please note the following monthly revisions from previous releases for 2012:
| Month | 2012 | 2013 | Percent Change | Volume Change |
| January | 13,340,000 | 13,500,000 | 1.2% | 160,000 |
| February | 13,716,000 | 12,800,000 | -6.7% | -916,000 |
| YTD | 27,056,000 | 26,300,000 | -2.8% | -756,000 |