“Get me a bottle of beer, otherwise I’ll go on strike here” – words of a former Federal Chancellor, around 20 years ago. Even today, Gerhard Schröder speaks from the heart of many Germans with this sentence, at least that’s what the figures from the Brewers of Europe suggest. In 2021 alone, around 76,300 hectoliters of beer were drunk in this country, more than anywhere else in Europe. The Germans without their beer? Like a zebra without its stripes. This year, however, some will have to find a new favorite drink, because beer prices are going through the roof. This summer could be the “most expensive beer garden summer of all time”.
At least that’s what the Vice President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Brewery Association, Stefan Fritsche, expects. He spoke to the “Bild” newspaper about the fact that consumers are already paying prices that nobody would have thought possible a few months ago – especially “for draft beer in beer gardens, pubs and restaurants”. The fact that beer prices are rising is not new. A price increase had already been recorded in previous years. According to Statista, the price of beer rose by 1.52 percent from 2020 to 2021 and by 5.6 percent from 2021 to 2022. It became apparent that this would not be the end of the road. The statistics of the monthly consumer price index for beer in Germany shows a steep curve. Accordingly, prices have risen by 15.8 percent since 2020.
“We have been working in a permanent crisis mode for almost three years now,” complained the chief executive of the German Brewers’ Association at the beginning of the year. The misery of the brewers began with the corona pandemic. As a result of the lockdown and other pandemic measures, the draft beer market, which is economically important for the breweries, collapsed. Beer worth millions fell into disrepair and had to be destroyed. The Ukraine war and the energy crisis followed on from the corona crisis, which made production much more expensive. But not only them.
Everything has become more expensive, the German Brewers’ Association calculated: Bottle caps cost twice as much, carbon dioxide is 90 percent more expensive, labels are 30 percent more expensive, the price of hops has risen by 35 percent, surcharges of 90 percent would be due for brewing malt, and that too New glass for bottles is 70 percent more expensive. “If we brewers were to pass everything on to our customers, we would probably be at 7.50 euros for half a liter of beer in the gastro area by the end of the year,” Fritsche predicted in January in an interview with “RTL” – and was wrong.
Because a price in excess of five euros for half a liter of draft beer is already “standard” in many places, and the beer price of €7.50 for half a liter, which was still considered “utopian” at the beginning of the year, has already been broken through in the first taps, says Fritsche. He is “relieved” about the beer price increase. Regional breweries in particular are dependent on this in order to cushion the sharp rise in costs for energy, raw materials and higher wages.
He now sees “the chances that we can still preserve the colorful diversity of German brewing tradition,” said the association’s vice president. It remains to be seen whether consumers will be able or willing to keep up with the price increase, or whether apple juice spritzers will flow in large quantities instead of beer this beer garden season.
Source: Statista 1, Statista 2, RTL, with agency material
