Marketing

European Beer report praised

Year-on-year beer consumption within the EU fell slightly but the trend over the past four years has indicated a general increase in consumption (though still a way off the levels prior to the global economic crisis in 2008) whilst coinciding with a drop in overall alcohol consumption, binge-drinking and adolescent drinking according to the latest Brewers of Europe annual report.

The EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis has praised brewers for their commitment to improved consumer information following publication of the Brewers of Europe’s latest annual report.

Based in Brussels, the Brewers of Europe brings together national brewers’ associations from 29 European countries and provides a voice to support the united interests of Europe’s 9,500 breweries. The organisation promotes the positive role played by beer and the brewing sector in Europe and advocates the creation of the right conditions to allow brewers to continue to freely, cost-effectively and responsibly brew and market beer across Europe.

“I welcome the commitment of the Brewers of Europe to provide the full list of ingredients and the calorie content on all pre-packed beers,” said Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis speaking at BoE’s recent annual general assembly, “Transparency has been one of the trendiest words in the food and drink industry in recent years – a clear illustration that it’s important to consumers. Therefore, I call upon the whole beer industry to implement the commitment to meet consumer expectations.”

The Brewers of Europe’s latest statistical publication on the state of the beer sector reported that No-Alcohol and Lower-Alcohol beer now represents 6% of the EU beer market.

Pierre-Olivier Bergeron, Secretary-General of The Brewers of Europe explained, “In July we recommended to all breweries to list ingredients and calories on the labels of pre-pack containers. We now estimate that by the end of this year no less than three out of four beers will label ingredients and one out of two beers will label calorie information per 100ml, on-pack”.

The latest report for the beer sector was launched at the eighth annual Beer Serves Europe event, showing that in 2017, the EU produced nearly 900 million litres of non-alcoholic beer, according to the data collected by Eurostat.

 


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