Beer sales of all German breweries will likely decrease by another 2.2 percent this year and will end at about 91.7 million hectoliters on December, 31. This is the lowest figure since Germany’s reunification in 1990 and even lower than sales of only the West-German breweries before reunification. “East-German beer sales have been swallowed over the last 30 years,” stated Niklas Other, editor in chief and publisher of inside getraenke during his presentation at the get.in congress in Frankfurt, Germany, today.
Taking a closer look at all German beer brands with sales of more one million hectoliter, 9 out of 15 will most likely lose in sales volume in 2019, while only 4 will be able to increase sales and the remaining two will remain relatively stable. If the trend of the first 11 months of this year continues, those brands with the biggest loss will be Oettinger and Erdinger with both together accounting for about three quarter of all volume losses of the top 15 brands in Germany this year.
Oettinger is more and more squeezed in between no-name discount beer brands and premium beer brands sold at discount prices. Erdinger, the market leader in wheat beer in Germany, on the other side finds itself in a declining market segment, which has contracted by -7.3% this year according to market research company Nielsen.
All in all, the top 15 brands in Germany will lose about 800,000 hl this year and will sell only 35.7 million hectoliter of beer in 2019 which accounts roughly for 39% of all beer sales in Germany.
The ranking of all major beer brands in Germany will show only minor changes compared to last year. Largest brand will be again Krombacher, followed by Oettinger, Bitburger, Veltins, Paulaner, Beck’s, Warsteiner, Hasseröder, Erdinger, Augustiner, Radeberger, Franziskaner, Ur-Krostitzer, Jever and König.
