According to Eurostat, in 2024, European Union countries produced 32.7 billion liters of beer with an alcohol content above 0.5% and 2 billion liters of beer with an alcohol content below 0.5% or no alcohol at all, for a total of 34.7 billion liters.

Compared to 2023, the production of beer with an alcohol content above 0.5% in the EU increased slightly by 0.6% (+0.2 billion litres), while the production of beer with an alcohol content below 0.5% increased by 11.1% (+0.2 billion litres).

The list of major EU producers remains unchanged. Germany continues to lead the ranking of major producers of beer with an alcohol content above 0.5%, with 7.2 billion liters (22.2% of total EU production), the same as in 2023. Germany was followed at a distance by Spain, with 4.0 billion liters (12.3% of total EU production) and Poland, with 3.4 billion liters (10.6%). The Netherlands, with 2.2 billion liters (6.8%), and Belgium, with 2.1 billion liters (6.3%), also featured among the top five producers.

Maintaining its position as the largest beer exporter, the Netherlands led the EU with a total (intra- and extra-EU) of 1.5 billion litres of alcohol-containing beer exported in 2024. Compared to 2023, however, this country recorded a 12% decline (-0.2 billion litres) in beer exports.

The Netherlands was followed by Germany and Belgium (both with 1.4 billion liters exported), the Czech Republic (0.6 billion liters) and Ireland (0.5 billion liters) as the main exporters in 2024.

In terms of imports, France remained the largest importer of alcohol-containing beer in 2024, with 0.8 billion liters. The other major importers were Italy with over 0.7 billion liters, followed by Spain and Germany with nearly 0.6 billion liters each, and the Netherlands with nearly 0.5 billion liters.