More than 1.76 billion liters of beer containing alcohol were produced in Romania last year, the country being in the top ten beer producers in the European Union, according to data from EU’s statistical office Eurostat.

Romania exceeded Italy (1.08 billion liters of beer containing alcohol produced in 2016), and Austria (907.5 million liters).

A total of 39 billion liters of beer containing alcohol were produced in the EU last year, 400 million liters more than in 2015, according to Eurostat data.

Two-thirds of the beer containing alcohol produced in the EU came from six member states, with Germany being the top producer - 8.3 billion liters (or 21% of the EU total production). The UK came next with 5.1 billion liters produced in 2016, followed by Poland with 4 billion liters, Spain - 3.7 billion liters, the Netherlands – 2.6 billion liters, and Belgium – 2.3 billion liters.

The top ten continued with France – 1.88 billion liters, Czech Republic – 1.86 billion liters, Romania – 1.76 billion liters, and Italy – 1.08 liters.

The value of the local beer market exceeded EUR 2 billion last year, up 6-7% over the previous year.

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com