CONSUMER PRODUCTS

Study Says Beer Market Shrank: The U.S. beer market declined an estimated 2.4% in 1991, the biggest decline in the 31 years the industry has been keeping track, a trade publication said. But the drop may reflect peculiarities in the way the information is gathered rather than an actual dip in consumption. M. Shanken Communications Inc.’s Impact magazine uses shipments of beer from manufacturers as its yardstick rather than sales in taverns or stores. While that measurement provides consistency from year to year, Impact conceded that a tax hike on beer in January, 1991, depressed the 1991 shipment figures.