Latest news with #BarthHaas
Russia Today
6 days ago
- Business
- Russia Today
Russia ousts Germany from global top-five beer brewers
Russia has overtaken Germany in beer production for the first time, pushing the EU country out of the top five global brewers, according to an industry report released on Tuesday. Russia's beer output rose by around 9% in 2024, reaching nearly 9.1 billion liters, while production in Germany declined by 1% to 8.4 billion liters. As a result, Germany fell to sixth place, the report by leading global hop trader BarthHaas said. BarthHaas CEO Thomas Raiser told DPA that Russia's advance is mainly due to a sharp drop in beer imports, which has boosted domestic production. The shift follows the escalation of the Ukraine conflict more than three years ago and the trade and economic sanctions that ensued. Since early 2022, major Western brewers such as Carlsberg, Heineken, and AB InBev have exited the Russian market. While the EU did not formally ban beer exports to the country, sanctions and corporate withdrawals disrupted supply chains and logistics. In response, Moscow introduced steep import tariffs on alcoholic beverages from 'unfriendly' countries, making foreign beer significantly less competitive. Two Russian breweries have also entered BarthHaas' Top 40 Brewers list. Baltika Breweries, ranked 12th, was part of the Carlsberg Group until mid-2023. United Breweries (OPH), formerly owned by Heineken, joins in 24th place, the report noted. Given the surge in production, Russia has also expanded its beer exports. In the first quarter of 2025, exports rose 25% year-on-year, with key markets including Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Abkhazia, and Tajikistan. Shipments also resumed to several African and South American countries. Germany, once a brewing powerhouse, continues to see falling consumption, driven by an aging population, increased competition from other beverages, and reduced purchasing power, according to DPA. Rising production costs have similarly taken a toll, with 52 breweries closing in 2024 alone, official statistics show. The BarthHaas report also pointed to two consecutive years of economic contraction in Germany, along with a decline in hops production. According to the document, the world's four largest beer producers in 2024 were China, the US, Brazil, and Mexico.
Local Germany
7 days ago
- Business
- Local Germany
Germany loses top spot as Europe's largest beer maker
Germany has been knocked out of the top five of the world's largest beer producers, according to the latest industry report by the world's largest hop trader BarthHaas in Nuremberg. The number five spot was taken by Russia this year, which surpassed Germany in volume of beer produced for the first time. This also means that Germany is no longer Europe's largest beer producer, a title it has held since 2013. According to the author of the report, the decisive reason for the change is that beer production in Russia increased by around nine percent to 9.1 billion litres. In Germany, on the other hand, it fell by one percent to 8.4 billion litres. Five years ago, Germany produced around 1.4 billion litres more than Russia. In the years since, production in Russia has risen rapidly while declining slightly in Germany. Advertisement The BarthHaas Managing Director adds that Russia has seen a large increase in beer production in part because the country is importing less beer than in recent years - following sanctions and trade tensions related to the country's war of aggression against Ukraine - so domestic production has been boosted. An industry in decline A declining trend in beer consumption in Germany, coupled with rising costs for producers, has put an increasing strain on German brewers and resulted in a slow but steady decrease in production. View from the roof of the Faust brewery over Miltenberg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Andreas Drouve The brewery landscape in Germany is highly fragmented compared to other countries. According to Statista there are over 1,500 breweries in Germany, most of which produce just a handful of different beers and primarily serve their local communities. READ ALSO: 365 German beers - What I learned from drinking a different variety each day Major German beer brands announce price increases The largest German brewery, the Radeberger Group, is only in 23rd place worldwide. Small breweries in particular, have been hit hard by rising costs in recent years. "The figures show how great the challenges are for our brewing industry," Holger Eichele, Managing Director of the German Brewers' Association told DPA. Advertisement He added that Germany, like many European countries, is "struggling with declining consumption". Some brewers have increasingly turned to producing alcohol free beer. Consumption of those products has increased in recent years, although not quite fast enough to offset the decline in consumption of beer overall. READ ALSO: Munich opens its first alcohol-free beer garden BarthHaas sees demand in the traditional beer countries of the western industrial nations declining overall. This appears to be driven by a combination of aging populations, competition from a greater variety of beverages and declining purchasing power in economically difficult times. The world's largest brewers China leads the world in terms of sheer litres of beer brewed, having produced 34 billion litres in 2024. The US is second with 18 billion litres. Both countries saw production decline by about five percent in 2024 compared to the previous year. Brazil and Mexico took the 3rd and 4th positions, with 14.7 and 14.5 billion litres produced respectively. Beer production declined slightly around the world in 2024. Globally a total of 187.5 litres were produced. Germany still leads the world in the production of hops, the bitter herb which is one of the three ingredients used for beer production. According to BarthHaas, 46,536 tons were harvested in Germany in 2024, while the USA, currently the world's number two, came in at 39,995 tons. With reporting by DPA.
