Total shipments of beer and beerlike drinks moved up 2.0 percent from a year earlier to 29.83 million cases in February, rising for the second straight month, according to data released Thursday by the nation's top five brewers.

But the overall shipment figure was the third-lowest ever for the reporting month because sales of regular beer and low-malt "happoshu" beer were slow, while inexpensive, so-called third-category beer sold well as consumers continued to pinch their pennies.

One case holds 20 633-milliliter bottles.