Belgium produced 99 million liters less beer in 2023 compared to the previous year, translating to a shortfall of 400 million freshly tapped pints. Eurostat released these figures on Friday,

showing a five percent decline in beer production across the European Union.

In 2023, Belgium's beer production totaled 2.047 billion liters, down by 99 million liters from 2022, equating to a decrease of 396 million 25-centiliter pints.

Germany remains the largest beer producer in the EU, with 7.2 billion liters, followed by Spain (4 billion liters), Poland (3.5 billion liters), the Netherlands (2.4 billion liters), and Belgium (just over 2 billion liters). Germany accounted for 22.3 percent of total production, while Belgium ranked fifth with 6.3 percent.

The Netherlands maintained its position as the largest beer exporter in 2023, exporting 1.8 billion liters. Belgium, which was the second-largest exporter in 2022 with 1.6 billion liters, shared the second position with Germany in 2023, each exporting 1.4 billion liters of beer.

Within the EU, France remained the largest beer importer, bringing in 0.9 billion liters. Outside the EU, the UK was the leading importer of European beer, with 0.8 billion liters, representing 23 percent of non-EU exports.

Lastly, the production of non-alcoholic beer saw a notable increase of 13.5 percent, reaching a total of 1.8 billion liters. Germany emerged as the largest producer of non-alcoholic beer. Photo by Ludovic Péron, Wikimedia commons.