Italy: Beer production down 5.02% in 2023

Beer production in Italy confirms a growing trend compared to pre-pandemic data, but the sector needs concrete support to grow again. To strengthen the competitiveness of the sector, AssoBirra continues to dialogue with the institutions to reduce the excessive tax burden on the category and encourage investment, the Italian brewers’ association said in its annual report.

According to AssoBirra data, in 2023 beer production in Italy reached 17.4 million hectolitres, recording a 5.02% decrease compared to 18.3 million hectolitres in 2022, but exceeding the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 (17.3 million hectolitres) and almost equal to 2021 (17.8 million hectolitres).

Consumption, although down from the record of 2022 (22.5 million hectolitres), stood at 21.2 million hectolitres in 2023, marking a decrease of 5.85% but maintaining a share that exceeds the historic maximum of consumption recorded until last year (21.2 million hectolitres in 2019) and exceeding that of 2021, outlining an increase of over 20 percentage points (20.9%) compared to ten years ago (17.5 million hectolitres in 2013).

The import of beer has similarly recorded a decrease of 7.55% compared to the previous year, equal to 600 thousand hectolitres, with 7.4 million hl compared to about 8 million in 2022.

Germany - which enjoys a tax 4 times lower than that of Italy - remains the main country of origin of imports of beer into Italy, with 41.7% of total imports, followed by Belgium (with a share of 20.7%), the Netherlands (9.8%) and Poland (9.4%). Among the non-EU countries, which account for a global figure of 2.2% of imports, the largest exporter to Italy is the United Kingdom, with almost 95 thousand hectolitres on about 135 thousand of the total non-EU.

Exports also show a lower aggregate than in 2022 (3.6 million hl in 2023, with a -5.36% compared to 3.8 of the previous year). The export distribution shows a decrease in the share to the United Kingdom (44.1% vs 48.2% in 2022, equal to -250 thousand hectolitres in 2022), but an increase in exports to Albania and especially France, with a growth of 57%.

In the current context, AssoBirra considers it essential to take certain positive decisions on the tax side, which will allow companies in the brewing industry to return to devote economic resources, generate sustainable growth over time and compete on international markets, today less slowed by taxation and bureaucracy and therefore more free to invest. The margins are structurally under pressure throughout the value chain: agriculture, transformation, production, logistics, transport, large-scale distribution and catering need to return to investing in their business, to generate wealth for the country.

Alfredo Pratolongo, president of AssoBirra, said: "2023 has been a particularly difficult year for the brewing industry. After a decade of growth, the crisis triggered by the pandemic contingency and the recovery in 2022, consumption has fallen this year by almost six percentage points. For the future I remain positive because beer in Italy has now become a meal drink, identified with informal conviviality, appreciated for its characteristics of lightness, versatility, naturalness and low alcohol content, or non-alcoholic. The latter, is not a factor to be underestimated, because upstream of the free choices of consumption - at the table and not, beer is a choice of pleasure that allows you to consume certain quantities and moderate or zero and, at the same time, to enjoy a refreshing and defined taste, sparkling and pleasantly bitter, which enhances by contrast or assonance the most diverse dishes and ingredients and the heterogeneous richness of flavors of the Italian culinary heritage".

"Being part of the menu of Italians is a structural factor and therefore allows for a cautious optimism for the future, but it is also essential not to lose focus on the commitments that await us in the coming months, the need for simpler and simpler procedures for access to national and Community funds, the updating of certain articles of the beer law and, we hope, a reduction in the specific tax burden," Pratolongo added.

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