That decline brought the total beer imports to a negative in the last month of 2019 – down 12.7%. We asked the Beer Institute if they had any information about the cause of the decline, but they didn’t.
The Netherlands also experienced a decline, a modest 0.6% drop. But Imports from Germany, the No. 5 exporter to the U.S., fell 15.3%, and imports from France plunged 60.7%.
Imports from Italy soared 23.3%, as did imports from the United Kingdom, which were up 24.8% in December
Nonalcoholic beer imports in December were up 61.9%, Beer Institute said after analyzing Commerce Department figures.