Italy: Beer production in 2021 surpasses 2019 and 2020 volumes

Italian beer production reached 17.6 million hectolitres (hl) in 2021, surpassing both 2019's (17.3 million hl) and 2020's (15.8 million hl) figures.

The figures come from the 2021 Annual Report of Assobirra, the association of Italian beer and malt makers.

Exports, amounting to 3.8 million hl, were also higher than in 2019 (3.5 million) and 2020 (3.3 million).

Italian beer confirmed its popularity even in countries with a strong brewing tradition such as the UK, which accounted for 46.9% of Italian beer exports, the USA (8.6%) and Australia (6.4%).

Imports dropped compared to the pre-pandemic period to 7 million hl in 2021, down from 7.4 million in 2019.

The Italian beer industry continued to register positive results in 2022, especially in terms of volume.

However, the huge price increases in raw materials and utilities threaten to jeopardise the recovery of the brewing industry.

In recent years, to cope with the impacts of the pandemic, the brewing industry reduced costs, implemented optimisation measures and made targeted investments but claims it is no longer able to absorb further increases.

According to Assobirra, the goal is to return to growth and ‘preserve the shared value generated by beer in Italy’, which in 2019, before the pandemic, amounted to €9.5 billion per year and employed 108,000 families, contributing €4.5 billion per year to the state coffers.

On the positive side, the last government budget introduced a €0.05 reduction on the excise duty rate for the Italian beer industry for the whole of 2022.

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