1. Introduction

Beer, soft drinks, and whisky have the highest sales within the UK manufacture of beverages in 2017, recent data shows.

Annual statistics on the value and volume of products manufactured are collected annually in the EU. This article uses data collected by EU member states as part of the 2017 UK manufacturers' sales by product (Prodcom) survey along with the revised UK Prodcom estimates.

This article gives an overview of the manufacture of beverages in EU, and then focuses on soft drinks, beer, whisky, and gin manufactured in the UK.

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2. Beer is the largest beverage manufactured across the EU

The beverages with the largest manufacturers sales in the EU in 2017 were beer (£27.6 billion), soft drinks (£19.3 billion), and wine (£17.8 billion).

There are 19 European countries that record beer as their largest beverage manufactured, while the UK and Scandinavia record soft drinks as their largest beverage manufactured.

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3. Soft drinks, beer and whisky are the largest beverages manufactured in the UK

These products accounted for 80% of the total UK production of beverages, in 2017.

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4. The UK records the largest sales of soft drinks in the EU

The UK was the largest producer of soft drinks in the EU in 2017 with £3.8 billion, followed by Austria and Germany at £3.3 billion and £3.1 billion respectively.

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5. UK manufacturers' sales of beer is the second-largest in the EU

The three largest producers of beer are Germany, UK, and Spain, which combined produce 42% of the total EU beer production. In the UK, beer has increased by £0.5 billion (15%) from £3.2 billion in 2016 to £3.7 billion in 2017.

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6. The UK comprises 81% of the total EU production of whisky

EU production of whisky is dominated by the UK at £3.4 billion, comprising 81% of the total production, with Spain being second largest at only £74 million.

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7. The UK comprises 72% of the total EU production of gin

UK manufacturers sales of gin have increased 267% since 2009 from £130 million to £461 million. UK sales represent 72% of the total EU production in 2017, followed by Spain at 11% (£71 million).

Please note

  1. Eurostat data were converted from euros at the rate of €1 = £0.87667

  2. Eurostat data might be suppressed for individual countries due to confidentiality. For example, data for Ireland is suppressed for whisky but is included in the ‘other EU countries’ total.

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Contact details for this Article

Jon Gough
prodcompublications@ons.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1633 456720