The largest German breweries did relatively well in an international comparison during the Corona crisis.

In the new ranking of the world's largest hop trader BarthHaas for 2020, eight German companies are among the 40 largest breweries in the world.

The year before there were seven.

No other country is so often represented in the top 40 ranking.

Veltins made it into the ranking for the first time despite a decline in output and was in 40th place.

Taken together, the German brewers are, according to the figures, with a production decline of 5 percent, a bit better than the 40 overall with an average minus of 6 percent.

Largest German beer brewer: Radeberger

According to the list, the largest German beer producer is still the Oetker subsidiary Radeberger Group.

Globally, it rises by one rank to 22nd place, followed by the TCB Beteiligungsgesellschaft at 24th place, which includes the Gilde Brewery, the Frankfurter Brauhaus and Feldschlößchen.

The Oettinger Group is in 25th place. That is an increase of three places.

According to the figures, Oettinger is also the only one of the German breweries in the ranking that has significantly increased its output.

On the international places 31 to 33 follow Krombacher, the Bitburger brewing group and Paulaner.

With a significant drop in emissions, the Warsteiner Group has risen by one place to 39th place.

“As you can see, the process of concentration has ravaged the big brewing groups over the past 15 years.

This is the only way for the small German brewers to slip into the ranking, ”said the editor of the beverage magazine“ Inside ”, Niklas Other, of the German press agency.

Germany is a small market

“Today, 3 million hectoliters are enough for 40th place.

15 years ago you had to weigh over 5 million, ”says Other, explaining the gap to the top.

In his words, the small-scale German beer market is not a good place for large brewing groups.

The four largest brewery groups in the world - AB Inbev, Heineken, Carlsberg and China Resources Snow Breweries - account for around half of global beer production with their breweries, according to the previously published analysis from the new BarthHaas report.

The German Brewers' Association also refers to the variety of breweries and beers.

"We are observing an increasing concentration of large brewing groups on the world market, while in Germany the number of private breweries increased from year to year until the beginning of the Corona crisis," said General Manager Holger Eichele of the dpa.

The pandemic hit the brewing industry hard.

All the consequences of the crisis are far from being foreseeable.

“Something like normalcy should only be achieved again in 2022,” emphasizes Eichele.

The concentration is taking place on an international level, said Veltins spokesman Ulrich Biene.

In Germany, on the other hand, major takeovers have been a while and are not in sight either.

Among other things, this is due to the strong position of regional beers.

From January to the end of April, the German brewing industry lost 2 million hectoliters, the volume of a medium-sized brewery, Biene explains.

Business has been picking up again for three weeks, but initially it is about replenishing stocks.

"The brewing industry is not out of the woods yet."

How well breweries come through the Corona crisis also depends on how well they are represented in gastronomy and at public festivals.

While these two areas suffered badly from the pandemic, many breweries increased their bottled beer sales.

However, this is not considered to be as lucrative as the draft beer business.