The German brewery Holsten has said that it has experienced a 70% fall in sales of its canned beer in the first five months of this year, compared to the same period last year.
However, sales of Holsten’s beer in returnable bottles rose by 43%. Total beer sales of the brewery fell by 11.4%.
Overall Germany’s 1,300 beer producers sold a total 40.7 million hectolitres, a 7.1% year-on-year decrease, the greatest decline since World War II.
The decrease is primarily due to the introduction of a controversial environmental law requiring a system of deposits on cans and plastic bottles, which began at the beginning of the year.
