BERLIN, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Sales of breweries in Germany decreased by 1.9 percent compared to the previous year, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Thursday.

More than 80 percent of the total of 9.2 billion liters of beer, enough to fill more than 3,500 Olympic-size swimming pools, was sold in the German market where sales even fell 2.1 percent, according to Destatis.

Despite the very record summer of 2019 in Germany, "beer sales unfortunately did not reach the previous year's level," said Holger Eichele, general manager of the German Brewers Association (DBB).

Even the tax free consumption of beer which German breweries and their employees can legally enjoy dropped by 5.2 percent to 12.4 million liters, according to Destatis.

However, non-alcohol beer drinks continued to grow significantly in 2019. Their market share was now at 7 percent and was heading for 10 percent, which "is a positive trend", Eichele said.

One explanation for the lower beer sales in 2019 was that last year "lacked major sporting events such as a football World Cup or European Championship", the German brewers' association noted. In 2018, Russia had hosted the football World Cup while 2020 will see the European Championship.

German Beer exports decreased by 1.1 percent last year, according to Destatis. Only beer exports to countries outside the European Union developed positively and were up 3.4 percent.

International business had been a "supporting pillar of our sales for many decades", Peter Boeck, managing director sales of the German brewery Oettinger told Xinhua on Thursday.

"China is becoming increasingly important for us," added Boeck. According to its own figures, Oettinger was the second largest beer exporter in Germany in terms of hectoliters. Enditem

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