- Due to the current Corona pandemic, some breweries are facing insolvency. Sales to the catering trade and public festivals were almost completely canceled in 2020.
- The damage to the breweries is immense and "not compensatable" says Marc Huhnholz, press spokesman for the German Brewers Association, to Business Insider.
- A small ray of hope is offered by the possible opening of outdoor restaurants which was promised at the last coronavirus summit.
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Lockdowns in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic are also hitting German breweries hard. "Some breweries had to cope with declines of 70 percent or more," says Marc Huhnholz, spokesman for the German Brewers Association. "Many businesses also generate a large part of their sales through festivals and events. With the closure of the catering trade and the loss of tens of thousands of events, draft beer sales have come to a complete standstill overnight, with devastating consequences for the breweries - and no one knows what will happen next."
In recent weeks, there have been several reports about various breweries that even had to throw away their beer. They found no more buyers before the beer's best-before date had expired. Breweries that mainly sell draft beer are particularly affected here. Sales of bottled beer in the retail trade did increase in February, as reported by Welt, but not all of the losses can be absorbed in this way. The second lockdown has now lasted several months. "The fact is: for many of the predominantly family-run and medium-sized breweries in Germany, the situation is now very serious, for some even threatening their existence," says Huhnholz.
The breweries are being affected to varying degrees. As the FAZ reported, Oettinger (down 1.5 percent), Veltins (down 3.5 percent) and Krombacher (down 4.8 percent) have seen their sales fall less sharply. Other breweries, such as Bitburger (down 8 percent) and Warsteiner (down 17 percent), have suffered heavier losses.
In an interview with Handelsblatt, Bitburger CEO Axel Dahm described how sales have fallen by 12 percent and 130 jobs have already had to be cut. Among other things, this was caused by a 51 percent drop in sales in the catering and event sector. Surprisingly, Benediktiner, as a Bitburger brand, was able to increase sales by 40 percent.
Brewers address politicians with an open letter
The breweries drew attention to their precarious situation with a jointly written open letter. This included several economic demands on the German government, such as the extension of fixed cost reimbursement to perishable foodstuffs, avoidance of additional tax burdens, and the simple refinancing of KfW subsidized loans. Huhnholz also calls for a "transparent and reliable opening strategy" from the federal government in an interview with Business Insider. To what extent the new easing measures of the federal government will now bring relief remains to be seen for the time being. The breweries are hopeful about the possible opening of outdoor catering; however, it remains to be seen whether the incidence values will allow this in the future.
Just last year, beer was officially classified as an "intangible cultural heritage" by the Conference of Ministers of Culture and the Minister of State Monika Gründers (CDU). In 2016, 500 years of the German Purity Law were celebrated. No one feels like celebrating now - certainly not the breweries. "So not only are countless jobs at stake in breweries of all different sizes, as in the hospitality industry, but also an irretrievable part of our social life and our diverse culture," says spokesman Marc Huhnholz.
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