The Netherlands remains Europe’s largest beer exporter

Dutch brewers exported last year significantly more beer abroad than the year before. The European statistics agency Eurostat does not provide a reason for the increase, which is over a third. Beer production across the entire European Union also saw a considerable increase and is now approaching pre-pandemic levels.

The Netherlands remains, by far, the largest beer exporter in Europe. The 2.6 billion liters make up more than a quarter of the total European export. In 2021, Dutch brewers produced just under 2 billion liters of beer for foreign markets. Belgium, with 1.6 billion liters, is the second-largest beer exporter, significantly ahead of Germany.

German brewers once again produced the largest quantity of beer last year, but much of it was consumed within Germany. Their production reached 7.6 billion liters, accounting for over a fifth of the total beer production in the EU. Spain was next with just under 4 billion liters, while the Netherlands came in fourth in terms of total production. Across the EU, nearly 80 liters of beer were produced per capita last year.

Meanwhile, the surge in non-alcoholic beer production appears to have temporarily stopped. In 2021, brewers produced 1.6 billion liters of beer with low to no alcohol content. This pales in comparison to ‘regular’ beer production, which exceeded 34 billion liters. This represents a year-on-year growth of 7 percent.