Production of alcohol-free beer in EU up, but decrease in production of beer with alcohol
Compared with 2022, the production of beer with alcohol in the European Union decreased by five per cent (-1.7 bn litres), while when it comes to beer without alcohol, there was an increase of 13.5 per cent compared with 2022 (+0.2 bn litres), EU statistics agency Eurostat said on August 2.
Eurostat announced the figures to mark World Beer Day, celebrated annually on the first Friday in August.
In 2023, EU countries produced 32.5 billion (bn) litres of beer containing alcohol and 1.8 bn litres of beer with less than 0.5 per cent alcohol or with no alcohol content at all, totalling 34.3 bn litres.
In 2023, Germany continued to be the top producer of beer with alcohol, with 7.2 bn litres (22.3 per cent of the total EU production).
Germany was followed by Spain, with four bn litres produced (12.4 per cent of total EU production), Poland with 3.5 bn litres (10.8 per cent), the Netherlands with 2.4 bn litres (7.5 per cent) and Belgium with two bn litres (6.3 per cent).
As in previous years, trade data show that the Netherlands continued to lead as the top exporter of beer containing alcohol in 2023.
The Netherlands exported a total (intra- and extra-EU) of 1.8 bn litres of beer containing alcohol in 2023, accounting for 21.5 per cent of the total EU countries’ beer exports. Compared with 2022, this EU country saw a decrease of 0.1 bn litres in beer exports.
The Netherlands was followed by Germany and Belgium (both exporting 1.4 bn litres), Czechia and Ireland (both 0.5 bn litres).
For imports, France continued to be the largest importer of beer containing alcohol in 2023, with 0.9 bn litres, representing 17.1 per cent of EU total (intra- and extra-EU) imports. The other big importers were Italy with more than 0.7 bn litres, and Spain, the Netherlands and Germany each with almost 0.6 bn litres.
As to main destinations for beer (with alcohol) exports to non-EU countries, the United Kingdom (0.8 bn litres; 22.8 per cent of total extra-EU beer exports) and the United States (0.6 bn litres; 16.1 per cent) were the main partners, followed by Russia (0.3 bn litres; 8.4 per cent), China (0.3 bn litres; 7.3 per cent), and Cuba (0.2 bn litres; 5.2 per cent).
Imports of beers containing alcohol from countries outside the EU are marginal compared to imports within the EU.
When importing from non-EU countries, EU countries favoured British beer (0.3 bn litres; 57.6 per cent of all extra-EU imports of beer in 2023 and Mexican beer (0.1 bn litres; 17.2 per cent).
(Photo: Pavlo Araujo/ sxc.hu)
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