US rail shipments down except for petroleum
Year to date coal shipments and minerals by rail are down the most of all commodities, almost 6% this year.
Beer shipments down but craft beer expands
US tax-paid shipments of beer have fallen 0.7% by volume in 2019, according to the Beer Institute. But the Beer Institute does not account for US exports nor tap room sales by craft brewers whose numbers are growing.
Meanwhile the Brewers Association says California added about 170 small breweries making 15,000 barrels or less between 2016 and 2018. Those 797 companies combined to produce 855,788 barrels in 2018, about 302,000 more barrels of beer than in 2016. Also, according to Watson, 97 percent of that beer is sold in-state.
Meanwhile, California regional breweries (those making more than 15,000 barrels a year), increased production five percent in 2018, with out-of-state sales growing 12 percent, compared to in-state sales increasing 1 percent.