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Prost!

January 30, 2012

German beer sales remained more or less steady in 2011, according to the Federal Statistics Office. While Germans themselves bought less German beer compared to 2010, beer drinkers abroad were saying 'Prost!'

https://p.dw.com/p/13sog
Pouring a beer from a tap
German beer is finding new homes abroadImage: Kzenon/Fotolia

Figures released by Germany's Federal Statistics Office show sales of beer in Germany last year remained about the same as they were in 2010, although the Germans themselves are buying less.

On Monday, the statistics office said German brewers produced around 98.2 million hectoliters of beer, about 0.1 percent less than the amount produced in 2010. Of the total amount of beer produced, about 15.5 million hectoliters were exported - a gain of about 4 percent.

Inside Germany, however, total sales dropped 0.8 percent compared to 2010. The drop isn't all bad news, however: it is the smallest year-on-year reduction in sales since German reunification in 1990. Last year was the first year since reunification that total beer sales in Germany dropped below 100 million hectoliters.

Comparatively, the Germans are buying more pure beer than they did in 2010. Sales of mixed beer drinks - beer mixed with soft drinks such as cola, fruit juice, or lemonade - shrunk by 3.4 percent.

The states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria remained the beer capitals of Germany, consuming 24.4 percent and 22.5 percent of the total amount produced, respectively.

Author: Matt Zuvela (dpa, AFP, dapd)
Editor: Martin Kuebler