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Someone suggested after my last post about UK exports that it would be interesting to see where all that UK beer was going.

Luckily for you, I was crazy enough to spend my day off yesterday scanning tables and plonking them into a spreadsheet. There's too much data to put into a single table, so I'm only going back to 1995. I've got near complete data going back to 1946. If you're interested I can publish the older numbers, too.

Where is all that UK beer going in Europe? More than a third is going to Ireland, which might come as a surprise. My guess is that it's mostly stuff like Tennent's. In second place is France. Though the amount has fallen a fair bit since its peak of almost 1.5 million barrels in 2010. Third and fourth place is pretty close between Holland and Italy. Belgium is a long way behind in fifth. For a long period after WW I it was undisputed number one.

Considering the size of its population, there's quite a lot of beer going to Sweden. Lots of Fullers, I suppose. What beer is coming herre to Holland? You see a fair bit of Thornbridge about, but I can't imagine they're exporting anything like a quarter of a million barrels.


UK exports to the European Union 1995 - 2016 (thousands of barrels)
Destination 1995 1996 1997 1998 2000 2007 2008 2009 2010 2014 2015 2016
Austria 0.2 0.9 5.3 2.6 3.5 3.8 2.4 2.9 3.5 4.5 6.4 5.7
Belgium & Luxembourg 80.7 46.1 51.4 493 34.9 22.1 9.9 38.2 39.8 147.1 40.1 90.5
Cyprus 3.8 3 2.7 3 3.1 4.1 5.1 6.5 68 19.7 48.5 9.2
Denmark 45.4 42.7 233 13 9.6 14.8 12.6 11.4 15.9 8.8 16.1 18.1
Finland 8.8 4.5 3.1 2.4 5.1 11.5 9.8 8.3 12 14.3 16.6 14.3
France 183.7 512.2 279.4 526.2 427.6 1,094.4 919.7 1,299.9 1,443.2 438.0 501.2 544.6
Germany 26.9 24.3 23 103 14.6 48.5 117.8 16.9 80.2 34.8 28.5 58.0
Greece 8.8 4.4 4 5.2 8.4 19.3 7.8 10.4 5.4 6.0 7.1 7.0
Ireland 256 280.2 252.6 325.8 169.3 650.8 660.1 579.8 809.4 764.1 830.8 831.9
Italy 162.9 143.5 83.9 174.9 166.9 90.4 84.7 75.9 97.5 220.0 275.2 272.6
Malta 1 1.9 1.6 2.2 4.9 3.4 4.6 3.2
Netherlands 34.8 39.3 37.8 17.1 48.3 10.8 24.7 108 263.2 266.8 230.0 274.7
Poland 5.6 13.2 9.2 7.3
Portugal 2.1 2.3 13 0.5 1.8 4.1 3.9 3.7 3
Spain 80.4 65.7 41.6 64.1 59.8 80.9 61.9 45.6 53.3 44.0 51.9 54.2
Sweden 18.5 21 17 14.1 26.2 55.8 50.5 56.2 73.9 66.0 62.4 63.8
Other EU Countries 8.1 6.9 2.3 10.7 26.0 52.4 42.2
Total 909.1 1,187.1 823.8 1,205.6 975.9 2,121.3 1,979.2 2,271.0 2,983.9 2,076.8 2,181.2 2,297.2
Sources:
BBPA Statistical Handbook 1999, page 9.
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2011, page 9.
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2017, p. 18.




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