The self-styled king of beers has been toppled by a drink that most Budweiser lovers have never heard of: Snow.

The ascension of Snow, which is expected to outsell world leader Bud Light this year, is due to the growing thirst of Chinese drinkers for beer.

While beer consumption is on the wane in developed markets such as the UK, the Chinese have been developing a taste for home-grown lagers and there is plenty of scope for growth in a country with more than 1.3 billion inhabitants.

Average beer consumption in China is about 28 litres per person per year and that figure is growing fast. It compares with consumption figures of almost 100 litres per person per year in the UK and about 70 litres in Japan.

Last year, Bud Light sold 5.18bn litres – about 9bn pints - while Snow sold 5.12bn litres, according to industry statistics provider Plato Logic.

In the first nine months of this year alone, Snow has sold 5.1bn litres, according to the third-quarter results of its maker, China Resources Snow Breweries (CR Snow). And while sales of Snow are growing at about 20%, sales of Bud Light, according to industry estimates, are down in the first nine months of this year in its biggest market, the US.

As a result, Snow is believed to already be bigger than Bud Light and its position at the top of the global booze league is expected to be confirmed at the end of the year.

It will mark a meteroric rise for Snow's brewer. Since it was founded in 1994, CR Snow, has grown from a regional brewer with a single plant, in Shenyang in the north-eastern Liaoning province, to one of China's biggest drinks companies.

CR Snow is a joint venture between China Resources Enterprise and UK-based brewer SABMiller, owner of Grolsch and Pilsner Urquell in the UK. It now has more than 30 brands and more than 60 breweries in China.

It remains to be seen, however, how much of an export market there is for Snow. Reviewers at the monthly beer magazine Beeradvocate gave it a D describing it as "unimpressive" and "extremely drinkable, like water".

But its succession to the throne marks a significant success for SABMiller.

A lot of Western brewers went into China in the 1990s and built breweries, expecting to make a killing with their premium brands. They met with limited success because price is so critical in a country where almost one person in five lives on less than $1 a day. A 640ml bottle of Snow costs less than 30 US cents and, as a result, the premium beer sector is only worth about 2% of the entire Chinese market.

Instead, most Chinese drinkers are sticking with local brews. China has a clutch of super-brewers such as Beijing Yanjing Brewery and Tsingtao Brewery and western companies are increasingly getting involved with local partners as they look to offset slowing growth in more mature markets.

Earlier this month, InBev, which makes Stella Artois and Beck's, warned that the UK was among its worst-performing markets, with its brands falling 5.3% in UK sales volumes over the three months to September. That followed a similarly gloomy statements from Molson Coors, maker of the UK market-leading lager Carling, and Carlsberg – both noted a marked slowdown in British beer drinking.

Molson Coors' UK brands fell 3.1% in volume over the third quarter of the year, while Carlsberg, which is closing its Tetley brewery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, said a sharp downturn in pub trade had led to a revision in full-year earnings forecasts.

Earlier this week, China's ministry of commerce approved the acquisition of Budweiser's owner Anheuser-Busch by InBev and both companies are already involved in the country's brewing industry.

Anheuser-Busch has a 27% stake in Tsingtao Brewery, while Inbev owns 28.56% of Zhujiang Brewery. Neither company will be allowed to increase their stakes or get involved in either Beijing Yanjing or CR Snow for fear of reducing competition in the market.