The 2020 of the pandemic it was fatal for made in Italy craft beer. According to data from the Inland Revenue, about one hundred microbirrifici last year he did not make it and suspended the activities. Too many, considering that in Italy there are 756 small and very small breweries, for a total of 523 thousand hectoliters produced and 3 thousand people employed. “In 2020, the loss of turnover of microbreweries was more than 70%,” recalled the president of whistle, Michele Cason, at the presentation of the sector’s annual report.
A hard blow
The Covid in short, it has dealt a very hard blow to that handful of companies which, while only accounting for 3% of the sector, represent the true national production at 100%, considering that the vast majority of beer brands in Italy are in the hands of large foreign groups : the Dutch Heineken, the Danish Carlsberg, the Belgian AbInBev, the Japanese Asahi. The fault lies entirely with the closure of bars, pubs and pizzerias, which for microbreweries represent the priority channel, if not the only one, of distribution: “For this reason – explains Cason – we support the amendment presented to the Sostegni Bis Law Decree. which aims to extend the 40% reduction in excise duties to breweries between 10,000 and 50,000 hectoliters of annual production. These are entrepreneurs who at the moment have their bank accounts dried up and who need immediate support to survive ».
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Consumption dropped by 11.4%
In general, 2020 was a difficult year for the entire beer sector in Italy: consumption fell by 11.4%, production fell by 8.4% and only in the first 6 months of the year 20,000 jobs and 1.6 billion in value have been lost along the entire supply chain, from the hop fields to the pubs where mugs are tapped. “Before the pandemic – remember Cason – we came from 10 years of uninterrupted growth, with the sector that all together, including distribution, was worth 9.5 billion euros. In just 6 months, we have effectively canceled almost all the growth of the last 4 years ».
The request for a tax incentive
During the lockdown, the Italians drank beer at home and the bottles purchased in the large-scale retail trade increased by 4%, but these failed to compensate for the 35% drop in consumption in public places. “We are convinced that the recovery of beer will pass from the recovery of catering – said the vice president of Assobirra, Alfredo Pratolongo – for this reason we producers have decided to ask the Government for help not for us, but for the exhibitors: we support the proposal of a tax incentive of 10 cents per liter on keg beer, a form of tax credit to help over 140 thousand points of consumption in Italy, including bars, restaurants and pizzerias ».