Beer Institute

Good afternoon,

Linked below is the Import-Export Report for December 2020.

The key findings are:

The Import-Export report for December 2020 shows total imports slowed by 17% for the month, but year-over-year were slightly better than even at a 0.3% increase. Non-alcoholic imports slowed from November to December as well, dropping 37%, but they were still up 48.8% year-over-year.
The top seven import countries (Mexico, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Germany and Italy) together saw a decrease of 18.4 million gallons or a combined 17.3%. Imports from Canada (up 0.8%) and Italy (up 23.5%) were the only gainers in the top seven from November to December.
Mexico and the Netherlands, the top two import countries, were both down for the month (Mexico down 18.8% and Netherlands down 15.1%) but YTD Mexico was up 2.6% and Netherlands up 10.8%.
Comparing beer in cans for the Netherlands for the months of December 2019 and December 2020 there was a 174.2% increase. Imports of cans in December 2019 were 1.4 million gallons while the same month in 2020 was 4.0 million gallons. That is a 38.3% increase YTD. Notably, draft was down 58.4% YTD but overall imports from the Netherlands were up 10.8% YTD.
Year-over-year comparisons by country for draft beer shows draft down overall for all reporting countries by 49.5%, which includes the Netherlands down 58.4%; Mexico down 40.2%; and Belgium down 62%, all attributable to COVID-19 closures.

The next Import-Export Report will be released on:

• Friday March 5, 2021 (Reporting for January 2021)

If you have any questions, please contact Alex Davidson at adavidson@beerinstitute.org.