The global beer market retreats: what the 2025 data tell us
The big numbers of the global beer sector show three consecutive years of decline. Even the giants are losing volume. But for those who make craft beer with identity, the story is different.
A structurally contracting market
Data from the BarthHaas Report 2025/2026 — the annual report from the world’s largest hop specialist — confirm a trend that can no longer be ignored: the global beer market is declining for the third consecutive year. The 40 largest beer groups on the planet produced about 1.586 million hectoliters in 2025, a 3.1% drop compared to the previous year, more marked than the already negative 2024.
This is not a temporary setback. It is a snapshot of a sector that is being reshaped.
Even the giants retreat
At the top of the global ranking are still the same names — AB InBev, Heineken, China Res. Snow Breweries — but almost all close in negative territory. The three giants alone represent over half of the total production of the top 40, yet even they cannot reverse the trend. The only exception on the podium is the Chinese Snow Breweries, which grows by 1.4%.
Further down the ranking, some movements are recorded, including the entry of a new independent company born from the separation from a large international group. Signs of a market that is reorganizing even in its corporate structures.
The response of the big players: diversify
Faced with the decline in traditional volumes, the big producers are focusing on non-alcoholic, low-alcohol beers and adjacent beverage categories. A defensive strategy that confirms how growth no longer comes from volume, but from the ability to intercept new consumption habits.
The consumer has changed. They drink less, but want to drink better. They seek quality, identity, history. And this is exactly the ground on which the craft beer game is played.
Why craft beer is a different story
While the big groups chase lost volumes, independent breweries like Maltese build something different: a direct relationship with drinkers, based on selected ingredients, careful fermentations, and an authentic identity that no multinational can replicate on an industrial scale.
The global market retreats. Quality craft beer advances — because it meets a real need: to drink something truly worth the glass.
