The land of beer continued to dry up in 2017 as Germany’s beer sales dropped to their lowest levels on record according to a new report published on Thursday by the federal statistics office (Destatis).
Germany breweries and liquor stores sold a total of 93.5 million hectoliters of beer in 2017. Compared to just one year earlier though, beer sales dropped by 2.4 million hectoliters or 2.5%.
This downward trend doesn’t come as a total surprise seeing as sales have been on a steady decline since 1993 — down by 18.6 million hectoliters or 16.6% — but Germany did see a temporary spike after winning the World Cup in 2014. Between 2014 and 2016, sales actually improved modestly, but the dip in 2017 has made it clear that it was only a short-lived effect.
With the 2018 World Cup just around the corner, Germany could see another boost in sales depending on how the national team performs, but the truth behind the numbers shows that Germany is slowly loosing its strength as the land of beer.
