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I've been busy on various beery things recently, but during this I stumbled across a very interesting document snappily called The Contribution of Beer to the European Economy. It gives a very detailed report of brewing activity in 31 different European countries. Ever wanted to know what's what in the Turkish, Slovenian or Luxembourg brewing industry? Of course you have. Who hasn't? Well it is all here in this lovely document. All 289 pages of it.

There is lots of interesting stuff like 2 million jobs attributed to the sale and production of beer, loads and loads of tables if you like that sort of thing and more stats than you could shake a stick at. There is also a little summary which won't surprise you.

  • Decreasing consumption per capita; this trend started a number of years ago and is expected to continue.
  • Consumers buying less premium brands of beer.
  • Relatively more beer being consumed at home instead of in bars or restaurants, the result being fewer jobs, less value added and lower government revenues being generated by each litre of beer consumed in the EU.
  • Increasing tax burden, especially consumer taxes which have increased in many Member States, and this trend will probably continue for the foreseeable future. Higher taxes on beer lead to higher prices, and reduces beer consumption particularly in the hospitality sector, strengthening the trend for consumption of beer in the home.

Once again this is brought to you as a public service.You can read the report here.

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