BERLIN, July 30 (Xinhua) -- In the first six months of 2020, beer sales of German brewers decreased by 6.6 percent, or 302.5 million liters, compared with the same period last year, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Thursday.

The closure of bars and restaurants and cancellations of parties and major events led to a "strong decline" in beer sales, Destatis noted. In April and May, beer sales even fell by 17.3 percent and 13 percent respectively.

"Germany's brewing industry is experiencing one of the most difficult years in its history," Holger Eichele, general manager of the German brewers' association, told Xinhua on Thursday.

Breweries that mainly supplied restaurants and events had to cope with declines in sales of up to 90 percent in recent months, according to Eichele. Major events in Germany are generally banned at least until the end of October in order to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The famous beer festival Oktoberfest in Munich had already been canceled in April. "We have agreed that the risk is simply too high," minister-president of the German state of Bavaria Markus Soeder announced at the time.

"The cancellation of festivals, folk festivals and other events is affecting the German brewing industry as a whole," Peter Boeck, managing director of sales and distribution of the German brewery Oettinger, told Xinhua on Thursday.

According to Boeck, Oettinger's export business in Asia and Europe, in particular, had initially suffered from the "global dimension of the pandemic." However, he stressed that exports were improving again, which was "also benefiting from our business in China."

The demand shock as a result of the COVID-19 crisis has intensified a long-term development observed for Germany's beer industry. Already at the beginning of the year, Destatis announced that beer sales of German brewers had fallen more or less continuously since 1993. Enditem

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