Belgium is still Europe’s largest beer exporter

Beer production back on track

Belgium exported the
largest percentage of its production, closely followed by The Netherlands (61 %) – leaving Denmark
(48 %) a distant number three. In absolute numbers, Germany takes the lead with 15.7
million hectolitres exported, before The Netherlands (14.7
million hectolitres) and Belgium (11.7 million hectolitres).

On the whole, Europe is an
exporter of beer: 390 million hectolitres were producted and only 357
million hectolitres was consumed in the EU. Within Europe, Luxembourg, Estonia, France,
Italy and Malta are relatively speaking the largest importers.

Europe has some
4,500 beer producers, although some thousand are working a very tiny scale.
Remarkable is that the European beer production
increased 2 % last year after several years of decline.

“Giving jobs to 2 million Europeans”

The sector’s total revenue
is estimated to be 111 billion euro, employing 2 million Europeans. “For every 1 job in a brewery, we create 1 in
agriculture, 1 in packaging and logistics, 1 in marketing and other services, 1
in retail and 11 in bars, restaurants and cafés”, The Brewers of Europe’s CEO Demetrio
Carceller stated.

The European governments
also profited from the production and sale of beer, as 53 billion euro was collected
through taxes. That is what “The Contribution made by Beer to the European Economy“, an EY
study for by The Brewers of Europe has divulged.

(Translated by Gary Peeters)