The brewing industry remains under pressure worldwide as global beer production declined in 2025.
Total output fell by 0.7 per cent to around 1.896 billion hectolitres (hl) according to the BarthHaas Report 2025/2026.
Despite contrary trends in individual countries, production on the whole declined on every continent apart from Africa, which saw a slight increase.
“In many traditional markets in particular, beer consumption is stagnating or declining, while non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beverages are growing in importance,” said BarthHaas MD Thomas Raiser.
In 2025, the German brewing industry’s output declined by about 5.6 per cent to 79.24 million hl underperforming the world market. This was the first time beer sales in Germany had fallen below the 80 million mark. “We are seeing losses on an unprecedented scale,” said report author Heinrich Meier.
Nevertheless, as in the previous year, Germany was once sixth in the international ranking of brewing nations. The top five spots also remain unchanged, with China followed by the USA, Brazil, Mexico, and Russia.
The poor performance of Germany, Western Europe’s largest market, also affected the result for the European Union, where output fell by 3.1 per cent to around 333.6 million hl. In addition to the decline in Germany, a significant role in the losses was played by Poland, where production (32.12 million hl), was 7.2 per cent lower year on year.
The rest of Europe fared better, with a slight increase of 1.3 per cent to 176.23 million hl. However, this was not quite enough to offset the shortfall in the EU. Across the continent, beer production fell by 1.6 per cent to 509.83 million hl.
Meanwhile, the trend in North America (down 1.9 per cent to 343.08 million hl) was primarily driven by the sharp decline in the United States. In the world's second-largest beer-producing country, the 174.91 million hl of beer brewed last year was 5.2 per cent less than in 2024. On the other hand, Mexico – ranked fourth internationally – saw its production grow by 2.0 per cent to stand at 147.87 million hl.
In South America, Brazil provided an exceptionally positive boost, growing by 2.5 per cent to 151.1 million hl. Beer production on the American continent as a whole stood at 614.74 million hl, down 0.4 per cent.
Output in Asia fell by 1.2 per cent to 586.68 million hl. Although India (ranked 12th internationally) was able to increase its production volume by an impressive 6.98 per cent to 35.06 million hl, this was offset by output declining by about 2.3 million hl in China and by more than one million each in Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, and Myanmar. Although production volume in China fell by only 0.66 per cent, the absolute loss is significant given the enormous size of the overall market there which now stands at 353.6 million hl.
Africa registered the strongest growth in 2025 at 2.6 per cent. However, with a total of 166.69 million hl, the continent is still at a comparatively low level. South Africa led the way, with production there rising by 2.7 per cent to 38 million hl. By far the largest beer-producing country on the continent, it ranks 11th worldwide.
For the current year, 2026, BarthHaas expects global beer production to stabilise, but does not foresee a noticeable market recovery. “We expect output to remain largely unchanged, with a slight downward trend,” said Raiser. “Growth in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America is likely to be offset by contraction in Europe and North America.”Â
