Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

In 2023, the European Union countries produced 32.5 billion liters of alcoholic beer and 1.8 billion liters of beer containing less than 0.5% alcohol or no alcohol at all, for a total of 34.3 billion liters. According to a statement issued by the European Statistical Office in Brussels,
Compared to 2022, the production of alcoholic beer in the European Union decreased by 5% (-1.7 billion liters). When it comes to non-alcoholic beer, there was an increase of 13.5% compared to 2022 (+0.2 billion liters).
In terms of the production of alcoholic beer, in 2023, Germany continued to be the largest producer with 7.2 billion liters (22.3% of the total EU production).
It was followed by Spain, with 4.0 billion litres (12.4% of total EU production), Poland with 3.5 billion litres (10.8%), the Netherlands with 2.4 billion litres (7.5%) and Belgium with 2.0 billion litres (6.3%).
The Netherlands is the largest exporter and France is the largest importer
As in previous years, trade data shows that the Netherlands continues to lead as the largest exporter of alcoholic beer in 2023. The Netherlands exported a total (inside and outside the EU) of 1.8 billion litres of alcoholic beer in 2023, representing 21.5% of total EU beer exports. Compared to 2022, this EU member state saw a decrease of 0.1 billion litres in beer exports.
The Netherlands was followed by Germany and Belgium (both exporting 1.4 billion litres), then the Czech Republic and Ireland (both 0.5 billion litres).
In terms of imports, France continued to be the largest importer of alcoholic beer in 2023, with 0.9 billion litres, representing 17.1% of total EU imports (inside and outside the EU). Italy was another major importer with over 0.7 billion litres, followed by Spain, the Netherlands and Germany each with around 0.6 billion litres.

The UK was the largest exporter and importer from the EU
When it comes to the main destinations for beer exports (with alcohol) to non-EU countries, the UK (0.8 billion litres; 22.8% of total beer exports outside the EU) and the USA (0.6 billion litres; 16.1%) were the main partners, followed by Russia (0.3 billion litres; 8.4%), China (0.3 billion litres; 7.3%) and Cuba (0.2 billion litres; 5.2%).

Imports of alcoholic beer from non-EU countries are marginal compared to imports within the EU. When importing from non-EU countries, EU countries preferred British beer (0.3 billion litres; 57.6% of total non-EU beer imports in 2023) and Mexican beer (0.1 billion litres; 17.2%).