In each year of the century, the Netherlands was the largest exporter of alcoholic beer in the EU, but the gap with Belgium is getting smaller. The value of beer exports is 75 percent higher than in 2000, but the value of Belgium’s exports has almost fivefold increased in the period 2000–2020. Germany and France are the third and fourth exporters of alcoholic beer in the EU.
Around the world there is one country that exports far more alcoholic beer than the Netherlands and that is Mexico. In the last four years in particular, Mexico’s beer exports have exploded and the country now exports twice as much beer as the Netherlands. The Netherlands is the second largest beer exporter in the world after Mexico.
| 2000 | 1.097 | 0.173 | 0.374 | 0.681 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1.216 | 0.194 | 0.372 | 0.749 |
| 2002 | 1,405 | 0.191 | 0.394 | 0.763 |
| 2003 | 1.348 | 0.153 | 0.400 | 0.815 |
| 2004 | 1,236 | 0.147 | 0.518 | 0.898 |
| 2005 | 1,248 | 0.155 | 0.545 | 0.845 |
| 2006 | 1,444 | 0.151 | 0.587 | 0.858 |
| 2007 | 1,407 | 0.146 | 0.646 | 0.916 |
| 2008 | 1,421 | 0.170 | 0.632 | 0.942 |
| 2009 | 1.379 | 0.172 | 0.697 | 0.866 |
| 2010 | 1.371 | 0.228 | 0.732 | 0.950 |
| 2011 | 1.354 | 0.273 | 0.792 | 0.995 |
| 2012 | 1,527 | 0.353 | 1.063 | 1.067 |
| 2013 | 1,508 | 0.333 | 1.090 | 1.033 |
| 2014 | 1,536 | 0.351 | 1.054 | 1.075 |
| 2015 | 1,701 | 0.349 | 1.153 | 1,140 |
| 2016 | 1,758 | 0.356 | 1,303 | 1.181 |
| 2017 | 1,724 | 0.358 | 1,483 | 1.144 |
| 2018 | 1,722 | 0.344 | 1.552 | 1.167 |
| 2019 | 1,849 | 0.313 | 1,744 | 1,206 |
| 2020 | 1,915 | 0.330 | 1,741 | 1,108 |
| Bron: CBS, Eurostat | ||||
Exports of non-alcoholic beer grow faster in percentage
Since 2017, non-alcoholic beer has been measured separately in statistics. All beers with less than 0.5 percent alcohol count as non-alcoholic beers. In 2017 and 2018, Germany was the largest exporter of non-alcoholic beer in the EU, but in 2019 and 2020 the Netherlands overtook this position. The value of non-alcoholic beer exports was almost double in 2020 compared to 2017, while German exports barely grew. Dutch exports of non-alcoholic beer also grew much faster (+83 percent) than exports of alcoholic beer (+11 percent) during this period. After Germany and the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Poland, Spain and Belgium are the largest exporters of non-alcoholic beer. The strong growth of alcohol-free beer exports in Bulgaria in 2020 has been remarkable.
| Dutch | 66 | 57 | 99 | 121 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| German | 74 | 80 | 84 | 80 |
| Bulgaria | 4 | 1 | 9 | 38 |
| Poland | 8 | 8 | 16 | 23 |
| Spanish | 19 | 19 | 17 | 20 |
| Belgium | 7 | 11 | 24 | 20 |
| Bron: CBS, Eurostat | ||||
Americans love Mexican and Dutch beers
The main destination for Dutch beer is the United States, but neighboring Mexico is America’s largest beer supplier. No less than 71 percent of beer imported into the United States in 2020 will come from Mexico, 14 percent from the Netherlands and 6 percent from Belgium.
From the Dutch point of view, the United States is by far the most important buyer of alcoholic beer. No less than 37 percent of Dutch beer goes to the United States. This is followed by France (10 percent) and the UK (5 percent). France is the most important customer for Belgium, followed by the Netherlands and the United States.
Dutch non-alcoholic beer also made its way mainly to the United States (42 percent), followed by the United Kingdom (8 percent) and Canada (7 percent). 19 percent of German non-alcoholic beer goes to the United States, 18 percent to the UK.
| United States of America | 716 | 51 |
|---|---|---|
| France | 201 | 4 |
| great Britain | 90 | 10 |
| Canada | 82 | 8 |
| German | 82 | 2 |
| Paraguay | 79 | 0 |
| China | 75 | 1 |
| Taiwan | 70 | 2 |
| United Arab Emirates | 52 | 1 |
| Cyprus | 35 | 0 |
| Bron: CBS, Eurostat | ||
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