Germany’s beer consumption has significantly declined in the first half of 2025, marking the lowest level recorded since record-keeping began in 2023. Provisional data released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) indicates a decrease of 6.3 percent, equating to 262 million liters, bringing total sales to approximately 3.9 billion liters.
This represents the first time in the historical data series that beer sales fell below the four-billion-liter threshold for a six-month period. The figures exclude non-alcoholic beers, malt beverages and beer imports from outside the European Union.
The magnitude of the decline is comparable to the drops observed by German breweries and storage facilities during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of 2020 (-6.6 percent) and in the second half of 2023 (-6.2 percent).
Approximately 81.9 percent of the total beer volume sold – around 3.2 billion liters – was destined for domestic consumption and subject to taxation, a decrease of 6.1 percent compared to the first half of 2024. The remaining 18.1 percent, or 711.2 million liters, was sold tax-free, encompassing exports and what is termed “employee beer”. This category saw a 7.1 percent year-over-year reduction, with 406.9 million liters destined for EU member states (-5.0 percent), 299.6 million liters for non-EU countries (-9.9 percent) and 4.7 million liters distributed to brewery employees as a benefit (-8.0 percent).
In contrast to the overall beer market trend, mixed beer beverages – combinations of beer with lemonade, cola, fruit juices and other non-alcoholic additions – experienced a positive performance. Sales of mixed beer beverages increased by 8.0 percent in the first half of 2025, although they accounted for only 5.6 percent of the total beer volume, translating to 220.8 million liters.