Belgium’s on-premise sales of beer drop 50 percent in 2020

Belgium | What a shock: With bars and cafés being shut for almost six months in 2020, on-premise sales of beer fell 50 percent.

The drop in beer consumption amounts to a staggering 20 percent, or a loss of about 1.4 million hl beer over 2019. The shift to the off-premise was minimal: only +2 percent over 2019.

Beer excise revenue dropped nearly 20 percent in 2020 over 2019, to about EUR 170 million (USD 206 million).

A cry for help

The Belgian Brewers Federation has therefore asked the authorities to determine a precise date for reopening the cafes, after the worst year for the sector since World War II. Hospitality venues have been ordered shut until 1 March.

The federation, which represents more than a hundred Belgian breweries (out of 300, many of which are tiny), fears for the future of some of its members. “The cafes had to shut down completely for almost half of the year. This poses liquidity problems for a growing number of breweries, which were still healthy in 2019. For 2021, the sector expects not only major financial problems for the whole of the hospitality sector, but also upstream, at the brewers,” it said.

The hospitality industry in Belgium represents 180,000 direct jobs, more than 200 000 indirect jobs and 60 000 self-employed.