Europe has always been a land of brewers. Now it wants to be a land of non-alcoholic beer: its production grew by 13% in one year

The 0.0 label is gaining ground in the beer sector. Its overall figures are still modest compared to alcoholic beverages, but the annual growth of “beers without” is overwhelming. And its forecasts are encouraging. Two figures have arrived to prove it. Eurostat calculates that between 2022 and 2023 alone its production shot up by 13.5% in the EU, where some of the countries with the highest levels of production are located. greater weight in the market, such as Germany or Spain. If we look further afield, both geographically and temporally, Statista forecasts that its sales at the level will grow at least until 2028, when they will exceed 50 billion dollars.

Cultural changes, market changes.

Europe accelerates with 0.0. The Eurostat data are clear. And they show a steady growth in non-alcoholic beer. A few weeks ago, to celebrate International Beer Day, it published a report that reveals that in a matter of one year, between 2022 and 2023, the production of 0.0 beer or with less than 0.5% alcohol increased 13.5%In absolute figures, this translates into the production of a total of 1.8 billion litres of non-alcoholic beer.

It is much less than the 32.5 billion liters of beer with alcoholic content, but the evolution of the latter is not so positive. In fact, while 0.0 registered double-digit growth between 2022 and 2023, the production of beer with alcohol in the European Union decreased by approximately 5%.

Who produces it? The European Union beer sector has two clear protagonists. Both in the market for alcoholic beverages and in the market for 0.0 or very low alcohol content beverages. At the head of the market the tables According to Eurostat, Germany is the leading producer of 7.2 billion litres of alcoholic malt beer. Spain is next with 4 billion. employers’ data confirm Germany’s first place, followed by Spain at a distance. If broaden the focus Beyond Europe, China, the United States, Brazil and Mexico stand out in terms of volume.

The EU map is completed with other relevant producers on the non-alcoholic map: the Netherlands and France. In Spain, non-alcoholic beer also left a positive reading in another section, that of demand. Although the sector generally recorded a “blow” in consumption and that Voz Populi points out a fall In the activity between 2022 and 2023, last year ended with an increase in sales of non-alcoholic beer. The employers’ association estimates that three million hectoliters were sold, 3.5% more.

Good forecastsThe future also promises to be bright for the sin. At least According to Statistawhich recognizes that this beer represents a very small part of the income generated by the drink worldwide, also expects it to experience “strong growth” over the next few years. Its data is based on studies by Statist Market Insights and predicts that in 2028 global sales of non-alcoholic beer will exceed 50 billion of dollars. If correct, it would represent a significant increase compared to the 34.1 billion in 2023.

“Global success story”. He in quotation marks It is taken from the ‘Socioeconomic Report of the Beer Sector in Spain 2023′, published by Cerveceros de España, which groups together, among others, Mahou, Damm, Heinekken and Hijos de Rivera. In the study, the employers’ association underlines that non-alcoholic beer has “established itself as a popular alternative” and presents its evolution as “a success story”.

“Although the growth in consumption of this variety does not compensate for the general decline, this success could be related to the habit of moderate and responsible consumption of Spaniards, with young people increasingly reducing their beer consumption and older people also drinking less in 2023.”

The yearbook He also points out that Spain has the highest percentage of non-alcoholic beer consumption in total consumption “in the Western world”, with around 14% of per capita consumption. “According to the latest global data, total consumption in hectolitres of non-alcoholic beer was the same in Spain as in all of Latin America,” he points out by way of example.

Changing habits… The growth of 0.0 beer can be explained by several reasons. It has grown the catalogue The emphasis has been placed on advertising and consumption is also encouraged by campaigns warning of the harm caused by alcohol consumption or the risks it entails for drivers. The sector itself has sought a change of image.

A clear example The list of sponsors of the Paris Olympic Games, the biggest international sporting event, includes at least one beer company: Anheuser-Busch InBevthrough its Corona Zero beer. The agreement with the IOC was announced at the beginning of the year and included both the French event and the Winter Games of 2026 and Los Angeles 2028.

…And also new audiences. There would be, however, another key, partly related to the above: a change of generation. During an interview collected by The Week and which focused on the consumption of intoxicating drinks, Steve Fox, owner of a popular hospitality business in Maryland, provided a clue: in his opinion, at least part of the change can be explained by Generation Zwho is now in his twenties. “They are very conscious of what they are eating, and I don’t think that the obligatory alcoholic drink before dinner in the evenings is the reality today.”

In 2018 a study Among college students at the Cleveland Clinic, 28% of students said they abstained from drinking alcohol, up eight points from 2002. In March, Ethic cited another report which concluded that alcohol consumption among European teenagers has fallen by 23% since the 1980s.

Images |Giovanna Gomes (Unsplash) and Statista

At Xataka | In the United States they are making beer with water from showers and sinks. And they have good reasons