German beer sales up in 2022 after COVID pushed them down

BERLIN (AP) — Official figures show that German beer sales rose in 2022 after COVID-19 restrictions weighed on brewers in the previous two years. But the long-term trend remains downward and the World Cup soccer tournament in Qatar didn’t get the taps flowing. The Federal Statistical Office said Wednesday that German-based breweries and distributors sold about 8.8 billion liters (2.3 billion gallons) of beer last year. That’s a 2.7% increase compared with 2021. Beer sales inside Germany  represent more than four-fifths of the total. They were up 4% to 7.2 billion liters (1.9 billion gallons). That was still 5% lower than in 2019 which was the last year before the pandemic. Exports were down overall.