Russia has become Europe's leader in beer production

By the end of 2025, Russia ranked first in Europe and fifth in the world in terms of beer production. Information about this is contained in the report of the international company BarthHaas, which was published on July 21.

It is noted that 90.1 million hectoliters of beer were produced in Russia during the year. Germany, which was previously the leader among European countries, produced 79.2 million hectoliters. At the same time, production decreased in both countries.

"In Europe, beer production decreased by a total of 8.4 million hectoliters. This was primarily due to a significant decrease in output in Germany — by 4.7 million hectoliters," the BarthHaas report says.

China remained the largest beer producer in the world with 353.6 million hectoliters. The second place was taken by the USA, which produced 174.9 million hectoliters, and the third place was taken by Brazil with 151.1 million hectoliters.

Mexico is in fourth position, producing 147.9 million hectoliters of beer. Russia and Germany followed her in the world ranking.

In total, about 1.9 billion hectoliters of beer were produced in the world in 2025. The indicator decreased by about 1% compared to 2024. BarthHaas does not expect the market to recover in 2026 and admits maintaining current volumes or reducing them slightly.

The glass is half full or empty: the beer market in Russia is stagnating

Production is outstripping demand, and consumption has reached a historic low.

According to Eurostat data from July 19, Russia reduced imports of German beer to a historic low in May 2026. Purchases amounted to only €56,000, which is almost three times lower than the April €146.3 thousand and was the lowest figure for the entire period of modern statistics conducted since 1988. In addition, total beer imports from the European Union also decreased, from €2.1 million in April to €1.5 million in May.