Analysis of the Romanian Beer Sector and Romania’s Position within European Beer Trends

Abstract The aim of this paper consists in presenting the dynamic evolution of the Romanian beer sector at both national and European levels during the period 2018-2022. From an economic standpoint, the beer industry stands out as one of the biggest and most significant revenue contributors worldwide, with beer representing the most widely consumed alcoholic beverage globally. The need to carry out this paper emerges from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, following the effects it had on the active population and implicitly the changes in consumption behaviors. Moreover, considering recent times, the war in Ukraine is a factor that can seriously affect the imports and exports of surrounding countries of grain necessary for the production of beer, this aspect being really important in observing economical changes. This paper relies heavily on a thorough examination of the demand and supply dynamics within the Romanian beer sector, assisted by a comparative analysis of its standing among European beer trends. Notably, Romania holds a prominent position as one of the highest per capita beer consumers. The main hypothesis of this study consists in the fact that the demand and supply of beer did not increase during the pandemic, and that the expenses for this product suffered considerable increases. This is proven through a quantitative analysis in which indicators such as beer production and consumption, average expenses, imports and exports were analyzed. For this achievement, national, European and international databases were accessed.