German beer sales fall flat again in 2010: statistics

Domestic beer sales by German breweries fell by another 1.7 percent last year, the federal statistics office said Thursday, pursuing a trend that has been constant for almost a decade.

The German beer industry produced 98.3 million hectolitres (2.6 billion gallons) of beer in 2010, of which 84.8 percent was sold domestically, a drop of 2.9 percent, the Destatis office said.

Exports rose meanwhile by 5.9 percent from their level in 2009, it added, with three-quarters destined for fellow European Union countries.

Beer consumption has fallen almost constantly in Germany since 2000 with the notable exception of 2006, when the country hosted the football World Cup.

In 2009 the decline in overall sales was 2.8 percent, which means the downward curve was a little less steep last year.

Within Germany, the most beer is consumed in the northwestern state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populated of Germany's 16 Laender and home to Cologne, where a major Carnival celebration takes place each year.

Bavaria, host of Munich's Oktoberfest, was the second biggest beer consumer.