Belgian beer production drops by 400 million pints
Belgium produced 99 million litres less beer last year than in 2022. That is a difference of 400 million freshly tapped pints. New figures from Eurostat showed this on Friday. Across the European Union, production has fallen by five per cent.
Belgium will produce 2.047 billion litres of beer in 2023, 99 million litres less than in 2022, resulting in a drop of 396 million 25-centilitre pints.
As in 2022, Germany remains the largest producer (7.2 bn litres). Spain (4 billion litres), Poland (3.5 billion litres), the Netherlands (2.4 billion litres) and Belgium (just over 2 billion litres) round off the top five. Germans produced 22.3 per cent of the total, leaving Belgium in fifth place with 6.3 per cent.
In 2023, as in previous years, the Netherlands will be the largest exporter, with 1.8 billion litres. In 2022, Belgium was still the second largest exporter, with 1.6 billion litres. In 2023, it shares this position with Germany. Both with 1.4 billion litres of beer.
Within the EU, France remains the largest importer of beer (0.9 billion litres). Outside the EU, the British remain the biggest lovers of European beer, importing 0.8 billion litres, or 23 per cent of exports outside the EU.
Finally, the production of non-alcoholic beer increased remarkably by 13.5 per cent to a total of 1.8 billion litres. Germany is the largest producer of non-alcoholic beer.
Leffe beer bottles on a production line in Stella Artois brewery in Leuven © JOHN THYS / AFP
Related news
