E-Malt.com News article: Belgium: Exports reached 62% of the beer produced in Belgium in 2012

Belgium's centuries-old beers are taking the world's tipplers by storm, iafrica.com reported on June, 12.

From red to golden ales and sour cherry froth, lagers to stouts and lambic beers, the fame of Belgian brews has sent exports soaring 70 percent over the last decade, with 62 percent of the beer produced last year now shipped abroad.

"Beer is to Belgium what wine is to France, it gives our small country a real identity," said Sven Gatz, director of the Belgian Brewers' Federation.

And if France famously is the land of 600 cheeses, then Belgium is the land of 1000 beers.

"Sales of Belgian beer are exploding in Japan. After two decades as a niche drink, volumes increased fourfold just in the last two years," Gatz said.

The price of a pint of Belgian brew in a Tokyo pub is likely to be four times as expensive as in Brussels, however. "People order just one or two, as they would a glass of whisky or very good wine."

"The quality of our beers attracts the new young professionals," he added.

Belgium is home to the world's top beer-maker, Anheuser-Busch InBev. And thanks to its global reach, the maker of Budweiser, Beck's and homegrown Stella Artois, as well as Leffe and Hoegaarden, has helped carve out a place for Belgium on the world map of beer.

Neighbouring France remains its top buyer in spite of looming trouble over a French excise tax, followed by the Netherlands, the US, Germany, Britain and Italy.

"The prospects look good in the remainder of Asia and in Latin America due to the rise of a middle class keen for classy foreign products," added Gatz.

Among the most popular brands are the trappist beers produced over centuries by monasteries. Belgium boasts six of the world's eight trappist brands, including Chimay, Orval and Westvleteren.

AB Inbev meanwhile has been playing the national card to the hilt for the last couple of decades through the launch of its Belgian Beer Cafes. There are now some 50 of them in 18 countries, from Australia to Thailand to the United Arab Emirates.

But as craft beers grow in popularity in the United States and elsewhere, Belgium's brewers and their 5000 staff "can't rest on their laurels", Gatz said.


12 June, 2013