Data published by the European Commission’s statistical office Eurostat shows that EU member states produced slightly more beer in 2021 versus 2020, but production is still below 2019 pre-pandemic numbers.
EU countries combined produced 33.1 billion liters of beer in 2021, as opposed to just under 32 billion liters in 2020. Between 2019 and 2020, the production of beer within the EU dropped by 8% from 34 billion liters.
Also notable was the rise in the production of zero alcohol beer options, increasing by almost 20% on the 2019 level to 1.7 billion liters.
In terms of which EU countries produce the largest share, Germany is responsible for 23% of all beer, Poland and Spain were responsible for 11% each, and the Netherlands for 7%. These are the exact levels of 2019, suggesting that the pandemic did not noticeably alter the geographical distribution of brewing across the EU. Before Brexit, the UK was actually the EU’s second biggest beer producer.
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