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17-06-2021, 07:16
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I'm sticking with my favourite Polish trade magazine, Which is certainly delivering in terms of numbers. Lovely, tempting numbers. Drawing me away from what I should really be doing, the seductive little devils.As you should have guessed from the title, these statistics are for Belgian brewing. Let's see what they tell us.
Belgium had a shitload of breweries between the wars. 1,631 might sound impressive, but that's way down on before WW I. Back then there were more than 3,300. It was the war that did for many of them. The Germans knicked most copper vessels to make munitions and many small breweries simply never reopened. I guess many didn't have the capital to replace the equipment.
The effect of the Wall Street Crash and the recession which followed it is clear to read in the production figures. With a steep decline after 1931. A drop in sales seems to have reversed the trend in output per brewery increasing. An average of around 10,000 hl is very low. If you look in the second table, you'll see that in the UK the average was almost treble that.
The trends in the UK were very similar to in Belgium - really bad sales in 1932 and 1933, with a slight improvement in 1934. You can see that a high percentage of the beer imported into Belgium came from the UK.
Belgian brewing 1929 - 1935
year
number of breweries
production in 1000 hl.
imports 1000 hl.
exports 1000 hl.
consumption in 1000 hl.
output per brewery hl
1929
1,631
15,377
196
19
15,553
9,536
1930
1,556
16,662
228
10
16,880
10,848
1931
1,494
18,377
212
10
18,579
12,436
1932
1,484
15,558
156
8
15,707
10,584
1933
1,457
14,667
113
6
14,774
10,140
1934
1,372
14,717
95
5
14,806
10,792
1935
92
7
Source:
Przegląd Piwowarsko-Słodowniczy: organ Związku Piwowarów w Polsce 1936 wrzesień R.2 Nr3, page 67.
UK brewing 1930 - 1935
year
number of breweries
production hl.
output per brewery hl
exports to Belgium hl
1930
1,418
41,015,395
28,925
129,841
1931
39,113,784
134,414
1932
1,286
34,025,411
26,458
106,884
1933
29,376,748
85,428
1934
1,197
33,029,558
27,594
60,270
1935
1,144
34,146,520
29,848
58,203
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1955 p.68
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 50
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2003, p. 92
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 57.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2021/06/belgian-brewing-1929-1935.html)
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I'm sticking with my favourite Polish trade magazine, Which is certainly delivering in terms of numbers. Lovely, tempting numbers. Drawing me away from what I should really be doing, the seductive little devils.As you should have guessed from the title, these statistics are for Belgian brewing. Let's see what they tell us.
Belgium had a shitload of breweries between the wars. 1,631 might sound impressive, but that's way down on before WW I. Back then there were more than 3,300. It was the war that did for many of them. The Germans knicked most copper vessels to make munitions and many small breweries simply never reopened. I guess many didn't have the capital to replace the equipment.
The effect of the Wall Street Crash and the recession which followed it is clear to read in the production figures. With a steep decline after 1931. A drop in sales seems to have reversed the trend in output per brewery increasing. An average of around 10,000 hl is very low. If you look in the second table, you'll see that in the UK the average was almost treble that.
The trends in the UK were very similar to in Belgium - really bad sales in 1932 and 1933, with a slight improvement in 1934. You can see that a high percentage of the beer imported into Belgium came from the UK.
Belgian brewing 1929 - 1935
year
number of breweries
production in 1000 hl.
imports 1000 hl.
exports 1000 hl.
consumption in 1000 hl.
output per brewery hl
1929
1,631
15,377
196
19
15,553
9,536
1930
1,556
16,662
228
10
16,880
10,848
1931
1,494
18,377
212
10
18,579
12,436
1932
1,484
15,558
156
8
15,707
10,584
1933
1,457
14,667
113
6
14,774
10,140
1934
1,372
14,717
95
5
14,806
10,792
1935
92
7
Source:
Przegląd Piwowarsko-Słodowniczy: organ Związku Piwowarów w Polsce 1936 wrzesień R.2 Nr3, page 67.
UK brewing 1930 - 1935
year
number of breweries
production hl.
output per brewery hl
exports to Belgium hl
1930
1,418
41,015,395
28,925
129,841
1931
39,113,784
134,414
1932
1,286
34,025,411
26,458
106,884
1933
29,376,748
85,428
1934
1,197
33,029,558
27,594
60,270
1935
1,144
34,146,520
29,848
58,203
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1955 p.68
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 50
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2003, p. 92
Brewers' Almanack 1955, page 57.
More... (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2021/06/belgian-brewing-1929-1935.html)