The association’s head, Boris Miloushev, says this is the lowest beer production level in Romania over the last 20 years, adding the beer market has plunged by 15% over the past years and breweries now face a 30% production surplus.
Thus, after the relative stability in 2024, at roughly 15 million hectoliters, 2025 data confirm that there is no regular fluctuation, but a worrying contraction trend, with the market seeing a nearly 15% contraction in the past four years, the same data show.
A key factor driving the downward trend is the accelerated growth in the excise duty on beer. From 2022 to date, the excise duty has sored by 55%, including through a substantial rise of 26.2% applied since 2025 to date, despite including a more moderate increase, of 9.5%, for the 2025–2026 period in the fiscal calendar approved in October 2024, according to representatives of the association.
At end- 2025, Romania had 88 breweries, of which 76 are microbreweries, located in 75% of the country’s counties.
The association includes brewers in Romania: Ursus Breweries, Bergenbier SA, Heineken Romania, United Romanian Breweries Bereprod (URBB), and the microbreweries Beraria Artizanala Sibiu, Clinica de Bere, Scorilo, and Zaganu. The association also includes representatives of raw material producers: Groupe Soufflet Malt Romania and the Association of Hop Producers in Romania, which have invested EUR2.2 billion in innovations, the expansion of production capacity, sustainability and environment, the data also show.