Dutch beer sales continue to fall

Beer sales in the Netherlands have fallen by more than 5% in the first six month of 2024, according to the trade association Nederlandse Brouwers.

The group of Dutch brewers said that bad weather and higher excise duties were to blame for the poor beer sales.

A spokesperson for the NU.nl said it was a “really significant drop across the board” with sales of off-trade beer falling by 6.6%, and within the on-trade and hospitality it falling by 1.9%.

In terms of beer styles, Pils, which accounts for around 75% of the whole market share of beer sales, fell by 4.4%.

Speciality beers fell by 4.6% and other beers, which represent a much smaller volume, fell by 16.5%.

Low- and no-alcohol

Interestingly, the brewers group said that the drop in the sale of non-alcoholic beer of 10% was “striking”.

Previously, the group described alcohol-free beer as the “growth engine” for sales in the past decade, up by 55% between 2010 and 2022. It also said more variants of alcohol-free beer had been added during the decade-long period, and it was increasingly available in a number of different locations in the on-trade, such as sports facilities and student cafes.

Earlier this year, the director of Nederlandse Brouwers, Fred Teeven, said: “Alcohol-free beer has been the motor of beer sales.”

“We are calling for 0% tax on alcohol-free beer. The breweries have made a deal with the government to promote the sale of alcohol-free beer. That is now being undermined by the tax hike.”

Excise

The spokesperson said that until this year it had been a growth market, but that the excise duty increase of 200% on non-alcoholic beer could well have hit the sector, alongside other factors.

They also said that the differences in price between beer in the Netherlands and Belgium, and especially between the Netherlands and Germany are “becoming too big”.

In addition, the government was looking at whether as a result of the duty increases there were border effects, with Dutch consumers stocking up on beer from neighbouring countries. It reported that the results on this situation would be announced at some point after the same.

It also said that the bad weather across Europe so far this summer hadn’t helped matters, and that brewers were now pinning their hopes on the remainder of the summer months being brighter and sunnier.

“We hope that people go to the terrace more often to have a beer, or at a barbecue,” the spokesperson said.

Continual decline

Beer sales fell in the Netherlands by 5.6% in 2023 in the Netherlands, following a similar decline in Germany.

In addition, and for the first time since 2001, the number of breweries in the country has decreased.

Information from Stiching Erfgoed Nederlandse Biercultuur revealed that 76 breweries stopped in 2023, including 27 breweries and 48 brewery tenants. The reasons given for closure included bankruptcies and a lack of profitability.