Beer in Germany

PROSPECTS

High number of beer brands creates space shortage for retailers

The natural saturation of beer and its resulting decline in demand are expected to force retailers to reduce their display space for many beer brands and to no longer accept the many line extensions that have emerged. There were 14,000 breweries and more than 6,000 beer brands in Germany in 2017, which are expected to grow even further over the forecast period, especially due to the many craft breweries and other speciality brewers.

Demand for healthier variants rises

The health and wellness trend has been a phenomenon present in most food and drinks categories in Germany, also transcending to alcoholic drinks. While non alcoholic beer is expected to record further growth over the forecast period, beer mixes have more work to do to attain the same performance.

Regionality trend supported by discounters

German consumers have always enjoyed products that originate from their own region or country, a trend that is also visible in beer. As many international brands are struggling to set foot in German beer, domestic manufacturers are working hard to maintain their presence and provide many different domestic beer variants to the German consumer.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Radeberger Gruppe retains leadership in 2017

Radeberger Gruppe continued to lead beer in 2017, due to its highly successful regional premium brands, as well as its imported premium brands. In particular, beer such as stout, non alcoholic and flavoured lager have proven to be the main growth drivers of the brewery due to its flagship brands Jever, Schöfferhofer and Radeberger and its imported brand Guinness.

Premium speciality beers continue to attract attention

While premium speciality and craft beers are continuing to attract greater attention from consumers and proving to be a crucial competitor to the more traditional beer brands, their growth in Germany remains organic and is expected to grow at the same rates over the forecast period. As German consumers are not as open to newer product developments and categories as their European neighbours, the craft industry will have to exercise patience to acclimatise consumers to their products.

Price increases put forward by large breweries change beer landscape

The price of beer in Germany is really low compared to its European neighbours and is likely to remain this way in the future. However, manufacturers have to pay the price for the cheap beer and earn relatively little compared to manufacturers in other countries, which might have smaller volume sales but compensate for this in value terms.

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