Beer consumption in Germany, the home of beer, has decreased year by year.
Germany’s National Statistical Office announced on the 1st (local time) that last year’s beer sales were 8.38 billion liters (L), down 390 million liters (4.5 percent) from 8.77 billion liters in 2022.
This is the smallest number since statistics began to be compiled in 1993.
The National Statistical Office explained that beer sales increased slightly (2.7%) in 2022, but the long-term trend of decline continues.
German beer sales have been declining not only last year but also for decades. Compared to 11.21 billion liters in 1993, last year’s sales fell 25.2 percent in 30 years.
Both domestic sales (-4.2%) and overseas exports (-5.9%) declined, indicating that the entire industry fell into a recession. Sales of mixed drinks mixed with beer, lemonade, coke, and fruit juice, also fell nearly 10% in a year from 440 million liters to 400 million liters.
Non-alcoholic beer and beer with an alcohol concentration of less than 0.5% were excluded from the count.
The local beer industry believes that beer consumption may increase for a while from June to July, when Euro 2024 (European Football Championship) will be held in Germany, but it is difficult to resist the economic downturn and the increasing trend of refraining from drinking.
The beer industry has high expectations for non-alcoholic beer. “Alcohol-free beer will soon account for one tenth of the beer that is made in Germany,” Holger Eichelle, president of the German Brewing Association, told Diebelt. “Never has the beer industry grown this much in the last 10 years.”
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
