Cup lifts German beer sales

Beer sales rose in Germany, Europe's biggest producer, in the first half of the year thanks to a big jump in demand during the soccer World Cup in June, the Statistics Office said on Thursday.

The substantial increase is good news for brewers in Germany, whose sales have suffered for most of the past two decades.

About 48 million hecto-liters of beer were sold in the first six months of the year, an increase of 4.4. percent from the same period last year, said the office.