Beer production across the EU rose 0.6% last year

Beer production across the European Union totalled 34.7 billion litres in 2024, of which 32.7 million litres contained at least 0.5% alcohol, new data from Eurostat has revealed.

Production of beer with at least 0.5% alcohol rose by 0.6%, or 0.2 billion litres, in 2024, compared to the previous year, the data showed.

Some two billion litres of beer with an alcohol content of 0.5% or less were produced in 2024, which is a 11.1% increase on the previous year (+0.2 billion litres).

Germany continues to lead

Germany continues to lead the way in terms of EU beer production, with 7.2 billion litres produced last year, or 22.2% of the bloc’s total production.

Spain produced some 4.0 billion litres, or 12.3% of total production, while Poland produced 3.4 billion litres, or 10.6% of the EU total. The Netherlands, which produced 2.2 billion litres (6.8% of the total) and Belgium, which produced 2.1 billion litres (6.3% of the total), were among the other major beer producers last year.

Netherlands the main exporter

The Netherlands remains the top exporter of beer in the European Union, according to the Eurostat data, shipping out 1.5 billion litres in 2024 despite a 12% decline compared to the previous year. Germany and Belgium, which each exported 1.4 billion litres, followed closely behind, with Czechia (0.6 billion litres) and Ireland (0.5 billion litres) also among the top exporters.

On the import side, France was the largest importer of beer in the EU last year, with 0.8 billion litres of beer brought in from abroad. Italy imported over 0.7 billion litres, while Spain and Germany each imported nearly 0.6 billion litres and the Netherlands imported 0.5 billion litres.

According to Eurostat, Dutch and Belgian trade flows are over-estimated because of the so-called ‘Rotterdam effect’ (or quasi-transit trade), whereby goods originating in other EU countries that are exported through Dutch and Belgian ports are, according to EU rules, recorded as extra-EU exports by the Netherlands and Belgium. Read more here.