Romania Ranks Ninth in EU Beer Production as 2025 Output Falls Across Bloc

Romanian output reaches 1.594 billion liters

Romania was the European Union’s ninth-largest beer producer in 2025, with output of 1.594 billion liters, according to Eurostat data reported by News București and Economica.net. The result placed the country behind Italy, which produced 1.725 billion liters, and ahead of the remaining EU producers outside the nine largest markets listed in the data.

Beer containing more than 0.5% alcohol accounted for 1.491 billion liters of Romania’s production. Low-alcohol beer containing less than 0.5% alcohol and alcohol-free beer contributed another 103.954 million liters. Conventional beer therefore remained the dominant part of Romanian brewery output, while the low- and no-alcohol segment represented a smaller but measurable production category.

The figures establish Romania as a significant mid-ranking production base within the EU brewing industry. Its volume remained below the output recorded in Belgium, the Czech Republic and Italy, but the country still held a place among the bloc’s ten largest producers.

EU production slips from 2024

EU member states produced a combined 34.4 billion liters of beer in 2025. The total was 0.7% lower than in 2024, indicating a modest year-on-year contraction, but remained 2.2% above the level recorded in 2020.

Most of the bloc’s production was beer containing more than 0.5% alcohol, at 32.3 billion liters. Low-alcohol beer below the 0.5% threshold and alcohol-free beer together amounted to 2.1 billion liters. The figures show that alternatives with little or no alcohol have established material industrial volumes, although traditional alcoholic beer still accounts for the overwhelming majority of EU production.

For breweries, packaging suppliers and ingredient processors, the slight decline in overall output points to a broadly stable but competitive market. Producers operating below the leading tier must contend with substantial capacity concentrated in a small group of countries, while also managing separate demand and production requirements for conventional and alcohol-free products.

Germany retains a wide lead

Germany remained the EU’s largest beer producer in 2025, making 7.4 billion liters and accounting for 21.6% of the bloc’s sold production. Spain ranked second with 5.3 billion liters, or 15.5%, followed by Poland with 3.5 billion liters and a 10.2% share.

The Netherlands produced 2.4 billion liters, equivalent to 6.9% of EU sold production, while France completed the top five with 2.1 billion liters and a 6.0% share. Together, these figures underline the scale advantage held by the bloc’s leading brewing centers.

Belgium followed with 1.992 billion liters, ahead of the Czech Republic at 1.922 billion liters and Italy at 1.725 billion liters. Romania’s 1.594 billion liters put it immediately behind those three markets. The relatively narrow spread between sixth and ninth place highlights a closely grouped second tier of EU producers, even as Germany remains well ahead of every other member state.