BarthHaas Report 2025/2026 – Beer Market Trending Downward Worldwide

Nuremberg, July 21, 2026. The brewing industry remains under pressure worldwide. In 2025, global beer production declined slightly year on year, with total output falling by 0.7 percent to around 1.896 billion hectoliters. These figures are taken from the BarthHaas Report 2025/2026 which the world's leading hop specialist presented during an online press conference on July 21.

Despite varying or, in some cases, contrary trends in individual countries, production on the whole declined on virtually every continent. The only exception was Africa, which saw a slight increase in volume. “In many traditional markets in particular, beer consumption is stagnating or declining, while non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beverages are growing in importance,” says Thomas Raiser, managing director of BarthHaas, summing up the trend.

Germany below 80 million hectoliters for first time

In 2025, the German brewing industry's output declined by about 5.6 percent to 79.24 million hectoliters, thus underperforming the world market. This was the first time that beer sales in Germany had fallen below the 80-million-hectoliter mark. “We are seeing losses on an unprecedented scale,” explains Heinrich Meier, the author of the BarthHaas report. Nevertheless, as in the previous year, Germany once again ranked sixth in the international ranking of brewing nations. The top five spots also remain unchanged, with China followed by the USA, Brazil, Mexico, and Russia.

The poor performance of Germany, Western Europe's largest market, also affected the result for the European Union, where total output fell by 3.1 percent to around 333.6 million hectoliters. In addition to the decline in Germany, a significant role in the losses was the development in Poland, where beer production volume, at 32.12 million hectoliters, was 7.2 percent lower year on year.

The rest of Europe fared better, with a slight increase of 1.3 percent to 176.23 million hectoliters. However, this was not quite enough to offset the shortfall in the EU: Across the entire continent, beer production fell by 1.6 percent to 509.83 million hectoliters.

U.S. decline drags North America down

Meanwhile, the trend in North America (-1.9% to 343.08 million hl) was primarily driven by the sharp decline in the United States. In the world's second-largest beer-producing country, the 174.91 million hectoliters of beer brewed last year was 5.2 percent less than in 2024. On the other hand, Mexico – ranked fourth internationally – saw its production grow by 2.0 percent to stand at 147.87 million hectoliters.

In South America, Brazil – ranked third globally – provided an exceptionally positive boost, growing by 2.5 percent to 151.1 million hectoliters. Beer production on the American continent as a whole stood at 614.74 million hectoliters, down 0.4 percent, thus nearly equaling the previous year's level.

China causes losses in Asian market

Meanwhile, beer output in Asia fell by 1.2 percent to 586.68 million hectoliters. Although India (ranked 12th internationally) was able to increase its production volume by an impressive 6.98 percent to 35.06 million hectoliters, this was offset by output declining by about 2.3 million hectoliters in China and by more than one million hectoliters each in Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, and Myanmar. Although production volume in China fell by only 0.66 percent, the absolute loss is significant given the enormous size of the overall market there which now stands at 353.6 million hectoliters.

Africa registered the strongest growth in 2025, with +2.6 percent. However, with a total of 166.69 million hectoliters, the continent is still at a comparatively low level. South Africa led the way, with production there rising by 2.7 percent to 38.0 million hectoliters. By far the largest beer-producing country on the continent, it ranks 11th worldwide.

No sign of a turnaround

For the current year, 2026, BarthHaas expects global beer production to stabilize, but does not foresee a noticeable market recovery. “We expect output to remain largely unchanged, with a slight downward trend,” says BarthHaas Managing Director Thomas Raiser to sum up. “Growth in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America is likely to be offset by contraction in Europe and North America.” The situation therefore remains tense for the hop market as well.

(Notes on the data: Some countries corrected their production figures after last year's BarthHaas Report had gone to press. In addition, different sources list different production figures. BarthHaas made the evaluation after careful examination of all the information available.)

About BarthHaas

BarthHaas is one of the world's leading suppliers of hop products and hop-related services. The family-owned company specialises in the creative and efficient use of hops and hop products. As visionaries, instigators and implementers of ideas, BarthHaas has been shaping the market surrounding a unique raw material for over 225 years.

For more information:

Enquiries to: Benjamin Harmel, Communication Manager, BarthHaas GmbH. Ph: +49 911 5489 324. E: benjamin.harmel@barthhaas.com

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