In 2021 breweries in EU Member States produced 33.1 billion litres of beer containing alcohol and almost 1.7 billion litres of beer with 0.5% alcohol or less, new figures show.
The figures, as published on Eurostat, revealed that compared with 2020 there was an uptick in the EU’s beer production. Production of non-alcoholic beer increased the most, almost by 20%, while beer containing alcohol increased by almost 3%. While in 2021, the EU’s total beer production was equivalent to almost 78 litres per inhabitant.
According to the data, Germany was the top producer with 7.5 billion litres, equivalent to 23% of the total EU production, which means that about one in every four beers containing alcohol produced in the EU originated in Germany
They were followed by Poland and Spain, both with 3.7 billion litres produced, or 11% of total EU production and the Netherlands with 2.5 billion litres or 7% of the total EU production. The production of these four countries amounts to 52% of the total EU beer production, said Eurostat.
Data showed that the Netherlands continued to lead as the top exporter of beer containing alcohol in 2021. The Netherlands exported a total of 1.9 billion litres of beer containing alcohol in 2021, accounting for 21% of the total EU beer exports.
The Netherlands was followed by Belgium with 1.7 billion litres; 19% and Germany, 1.6 billion litres; 17%, followed by France and Czechia both 0.5 billion litres; 6%.
Eurostat added that when it comes to main destinations for beer exports to non-EU countries, the United Kingdom (902 million litres; 22% of total extra-EU beer exports) and the United States (765 million litres; 19%) were the main partners, followed by Russia (391 million litres; 9%), China (340 million litres; 8%) and South Korea (168 million litres; 4%).
Finally, when it comes to imports, France remained the largest importer of beer containing alcohol in 2021, with 0.8 billion litres, representing 16% of EU total (intra- and extra-EU) imports. Italy and Germany imported almost 0.7 billion litres (13%), followed by the Netherlands (0.6 billion litres; 12%) and Spain (0.5 billion litres; 10%).
The data showed that imports of beers containing alcohol from countries outside the EU are marginal compared to imports within the EU.
When importing from non-EU countries, Member States favoured British beer (248 million litres; 47% of all extra-EU imports of beer in 2021 and Mexican beer (122 million litres; 23% respectively). Serbia (46 million litres; 9%), Belarus (26 million litres; 5%) and Ukraine (17 million litres; 3%) followed on the top import partners list but with much smaller values.
