Non-alcoholic beer production has doubled in Germany between 2013-2023 as consumers continue to trend towards alcohol-free alternatives, a report has shown.

The country’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said 556 million litres of non-alcoholic beer was produced in 2023, amounting to around €548m ($593m) in sales.

In 2013, Germany’s non-alcoholic beer production was just below 267 million litres.

Destatis noted that non-alcoholic beer still only comprises a small proportion of German beer production.

In 2023, breweries in Germany produced around 7.2 billion litres of alcoholic beer worth around €6.4bn. However, total production of alcoholic beer in Germany has fallen by 14% over the last ten years. In 2013, just under 8.4 billion litres of alcoholic beer were produced in the country.

Meanwhile, production of mixed beer beverages, such as shandies, has increased by around 11% in the last ten years, reaching 363 million litres in 2023.

Destatis defines non-alcoholic beer as “beer with an alcohol content of 0.5% by volume or less as well as non-alcoholic beer mixed drinks”.

In February, the statistics office reported that breweries and beer warehouses in Germany sold approximately 8.4bn litres of beer in 2023, down 4.5% on 2022.

In 2022, sales increased 2.7% on the previous 12 months to 8.8 billion litres. However, the figures for 2023 underline the long-term decline in beer sales. The 2023 figure is 11.5% lower than 2013’s 9.5 billion litres. On a thirty-year scale, sales in 2023 were 25.5% lower than in 1993 when the nation consumed 11.2 billion litres.

In the Netherlands, beer consumption also continued to fall in the first half of this year as taxation changes inflated prices and poor weather curtailed outdoor drinking occasions, according to trade association Nederlandse Brouwers.

Between 1 January and 30 June, total Dutch beer sales fell 5.1% to 5.52 million hectolitres compared to the first half of 2023.