In the first seven months of 2026 Macedonia exported 7,105,529 litres of beer worth 5.63 million euros. That is more than the entire export in 2025, when 6.15 million litres went out for 4.3 million euros. In the same period 3,080,359 litres were imported for 2.13 million euros. By volume, exports are 2.3 times larger than imports, and by value 2.6 times.

Last year the picture was completely different. 12.6 million litres were imported - more than twice what was exported - and over three years imports grew by 25.3 percent, from 10 million litres in 2022. Most of the beer came from Poland (22.5 percent), Serbia (19.5 percent), Romania, Greece and Germany. The cheapest was Polish and Serbian, around 0.56 and 0.59 euros a litre, and the most expensive Irish, at 2.1 euros.

Who drinks Macedonian beer? Kosovo, which last year took around 70 percent of exports, and together with Albania almost 93 percent. Smaller shipments also go to Malta, Croatia, Austria, Germany and further afield. In the US the average price reaches 1.22 euros a kilogram, against an average of 0.71 euros a kilogram.

Production, on the other hand, fell by 5.7 percent last year, to 659,980 hectolitres, around ten percent below the record year of 2019.

If the trend continues, 2026 will be the best year for foreign trade in beer in recent times. But the figures also raise a question the statistics don't answer: how did imports of 12.6 million litres last year melt down to 3 million in seven months this year? Did domestic beer win its drinkers back, or is the market simply shrinking?