Swiss spurn beer

Despite major events like the European Football Championship per capita beer consumption in Switzerland hit the lowest level for the last 10 years. In the period from 1 October 2015 until 30 September 2016 Swiss beer consumption decreased by 0.6% from 4,649,027 to 4,621,928 hectoliters.

“Never before Swiss drank less alcoholic beverages than today,“ Marcel Kreber, secretary general of Swiss Breweries´ Federation (SBV) reported on Tuesday in a press conference in Zurich. Kreber claimed the bad spring weather and the cold temperatures in the summer months of July and August for the decline in beer consumption. Swiss beer brands suffered most with a decline of 0.7% while imported beer decreased by only 0.3%. Domestic production was 3.14 million hectoliters while imports amounted to 1.19 million hectoliters. More than one out of four beers consumed in Switzerland today are therefore already not brewed in the Alpine republic.

Lager beers still account for more than 80% of the total Swiss market. Specialty beers like wheat beer, India Pale Ale or Porter could again make up ground and account now for 10% of the total beer market in Switzerland.

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