Alcoholic drink production falls, non-alcoholic rises
Alcoholic beer production in the EU decreased by 5% (-1.7bn litres), according to Eurostat.
When it comes to non-alcoholic beer there was an increase of 13.5% compared with 2022 (+0.2bn litres).
In 2023, EU countries produced 32.5bn litres of beer containing alcohol and 1.8bn litres of beer with less than 0.5% alcohol or with no alcohol content at all, totalling 34.3bn litres.
For the production of beer with alcohol, in 2023, Germany continued to be the top producer with 7.2bn litres (22.3% of the total EU production).
Germany was followed by Spain, with 4.0bn litres produced (12.4% of total EU production), Poland with 3.5bn litres (10.8%), the Netherlands with 2.4bn litres (7.5%) and Belgium with 2.0bn litres (6.3%).
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 1.8bn litres of beer containing alcohol in 2023, accounting for 21.5% of the total EU countries’ beer exports. Compared with 2022, this EU country saw a decrease of 0.1bn litres in beer exports.
The Netherlands was followed by Germany and Belgium (both exporting 1.4bn litres), Czechia and Ireland (both 0.5bn litres).
For imports, France continued to be the largest importer of beer containing alcohol in 2023, with 0.9bn litres, representing 17.1% of EU total (intra- and extra-EU) imports. The other big importers were Italy with more than 0.7bn litres, and Spain, the Netherlands and Germany each with almost 0.6bn litres.
When it comes to main destinations for beer (with alcohol) Eurostat found exports to non-EU countries, the United Kingdom (0.8bn litres; 22.8% of total extra-EU beer exports) and the United States (0.6bn litres; 16.1%) were the main partners, followed by Russia (0.3bn litres; 8.4%), China (0.3bn litres; 7.3%), and Cuba (0.2bn litres; 5.2%).
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 (0.3bn litres; 57.6% of all extra-EU imports of beer in 2023 and Mexican beer (0.1bn litres; 17.2%).
