Belgians grabbed a beer more in 2021, but still drank less than before the corona pandemic | News

The resurrection was particularly great in the catering sector, even though the catering industry only fully reopened in June and there were again corona measures in the autumn. Compared to 2020, there was a 25.9 percent increase in beer consumption to 1.98 million hectolitres. The increase was smaller in the supermarkets, but the volume is much larger: +7.1 percent to 4.47 million hectolitres. Together this gives 6.45 million hectoliters, compared to 5.75 million hectoliters in 2020 and 7.07 million hectoliters in 2019.

Total exports – which now represent 73 percent of Belgian beer production – fell 1.6 percent to 17.55 million hectolitres. Exports within the EU rose by 2.58 percent to 13.26 million hectolitres. Outside the EU, there was a 12.6 percent drop in exports to 4.29 million hectolitres. The decrease is due to Covid-19 and the measures to contain the spread of the virus. On the other hand, large brewers often brew their beers locally for the non-European market for the sake of sustainability, the explanation says. Exports to the US decreased significantly.

The total turnover of the brewers rose by 4.1 percent to 3.65 billion euros last year. Investments (in infrastructure and catering) rose by 12.8 percent to EUR 311 million. Last year 29 new breweries were added. In two years, this is about 68 new players. There are 408 brewers across the country, good for more than 1,500 beers.

“Continuing to build the beer category and the Belgian beer brand at home and abroad will be our focus in the coming years,” says Krishan Maudgal, director of the Belgian Brewers. “The recovery has started, but we are not there yet. The ambition was to do better in 2021 than in 2020 and hopefully to be back at the level of 2019 in 2022, before the crisis,” it sounds. But the sector showed “resilience” in difficult circumstances.

In 2022, there are again many challenges, with the war in Ukraine, high inflation or rising commodity and energy prices. This may also translate into a higher beer price. The year has started positively, with figures that flirt with those of 2019, but there are again a lot of uncertainties. “We hope that we can continue on the momentum of the first months, before the crisis was well and truly felt. But we don’t have a crystal ball.”

“The reopening of the catering sector should lead to volume growth in 2022”, concludes outgoing chairman Jean-Louis Van de Perre. He passes the torch to Bernard Deryckere, who has been active in the food sector for many years, including at Unilever and Alpro. From 2012 to 2015 he was president of Fevia, the federation of the food sector.