The EU produced 34.3 billion liters of beer last year

In 2023, EU countries produced 32.5 billion liters of beer with alcohol and 1.8 billion liters of beer with less than 0.5% alcohol or no alcohol at all. Compared to 2022, EU production of beer with alcohol decreased by 5% (-1.7 billion liters), while production of beer without alcohol increased by 13.5% (+0.2 billion liters).

In 2023, Germany continued to lead in the production of beer with alcohol with 7.2 billion litres (22.3% of total EU production). It was followed by Spain with 4 billion litres (12.4%), Poland with 3.5 billion litres (10.8%), the Netherlands with 2.4 billion litres (7.5%) and Belgium with 2 billion litres (6.3%).

The Netherlands was again the largest exporter of beer with alcohol in 2023, exporting 1.8 billion liters of beer, accounting for 21.5% of total EU beer exports. The Netherlands was followed by Germany and Belgium (1.4 billion litres each), the Czech Republic and Ireland (0.5 billion litres each).

France remained the largest importer of beer with alcohol in 2023, importing 0.9 billion liters, or 17.1% of total EU beer imports. France was followed by Italy (more than 0.7 billion litres) and Spain, the Netherlands and Germany (nearly 0.6 billion litres each).

Outside the EU, the largest exporters of beer in 2023 were the United Kingdom (0.8 billion litres; 22.8% of total beer exports outside the EU) and the United States (0.6 billion litres; 16.1%). Beer imports from outside the EU were insignificant compared to intra-EU imports, with British beer (0.3 billion liters; 57.6% of total beer imports from outside the EU) and Mexican beer (0.1 billion liters; 17.2%) accounting for the largest volumes.