Germany: German beer sales rose slightly in the first half of this year as exports grew, but consumption at home declined from the same period last year - with even brewery employees drinking less, according to statistics released on July 28. Beer sales by volume increased 0.6 % to 5.18 billion liters (1.346 billion gallons) compared with the first six months of last year, mainly thanks to a 16.4 percent increase in the relatively small amount of German production destined for other European Union countries, according to Associated Press. Beer sales in the home market - 87 percent of total production - shrank by 1.4 percent to 4.5 billion liters (1.19 billion gallons), the government's Federal Statistics Office said.

Not only that, but the traditional free beer consumed by hard-working employees at Germany's over 1,200 breweries, dubbed "Haustrunk" in German, dropped as well, falling 3.4 percent to 10.4 million liters (2.69 million gallons). Haustrunk is counted separately by government statisticians because it's not taxed. Volume sales of beer mixes such as beer and cola or beer and lemonade - which many small brewers have turned to in search of a growth market - fell by 2.5 percent.

Beer consumption in Germany has been falling steadily since 1995, a trend that experts have attributed to an increasingly health-conscious public and a sluggish economy.

31 July, 2004