ARCHIVED - Pandemic causes beer production and sales to plummet in Spain

Exports, however, increased by 19 per cent with the UK becoming the second-biggest purchaser of Spanish beer in 2020.

The beer industry is the latest on the list of Covid-19 victims, with consumption in Spain recording a 12 per cent drop in 2020 and reaching lows only previously seen during the 2007-2014 financial crisis. 

The 2020 Socioeconomic Report on the Beer Sector in Spain presented on Wednesday (June 16) revealed that Spanish residents drank just 36.34 million hectolitres of beer in 2020, compared to 41.30 million in 2019, and production fell from 39.5 million to 34.7 million hectolitres.

The smaller breweries took the worst of the hit, with production down a whopping 40 per cent due to their greater dependence on local trade and limited access to other sales channels.

For the first time ever, due to Covid-related lockdowns and restrictions, Spaniards drank more beer at home than in bars. Until 2019, around 70 per cent of beer was consumed outside the home, but in 2020 that fell to 44 per cent. 

The increase in drinking at home wasn’t enough to compensate for the overall drop in consumption though, as total sales fell by almost 30 per cent. Per capita consumption dropped by two litres to 50 litres per year, according to the ‘Purchase and Consumption of Beer in Spain’ study by Kantar.

Unsurprisingly, consumption fell sharply coinciding with the first hard lockdown in the spring (when beer sales usually increase) and in October, when the second set of restrictions came into force.

The industry, still far from recovery as some restrictions remain in place and tourists have yet to return in force, hopes the worst is over but does not expect to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2022.

The news was not all bad, however. One thing did improve for the sector last year as exports increased by 19 per cent in 2020 to 3.7 million hectolitres. Portugal was the biggest buyer of Spanish beer, with purchases up by 42.5 per cent compared to 2019, followed by the UK, which has knocked China into third place. 

Imports of beer, mostly from Belgium, Portugal and France, also grew by 9.5 per cent to 5.3 million hectolitres in 2020, presumably due to the increase in home consumption.