COLOGNE, Germany (AP) – Bars have been closed for more than three months, carnival celebrations have been called off, and it’s unclear when things will improve in Germany. This has left the boss of Brauerei Heller, an organic brewery in Cologne, thinking ‘week to week’ as she tries to chart a course out of the coronavirus pandemic.

Official data released last week showed beer sales in Germany fell 5.5% last year to 8.7 billion liters (2.3 billion gallons), a drop fueled by long shutdowns .

German bars and restaurants were closed from March to May, and have been closed again since early November as part of the country’s second lockdown. Large events and festivals where large amounts of beer would typically be consumed have also been canceled.

The current lockdown was scheduled to end on February 14, but the government could announce an extension on Wednesday that will continue to hurt beer sales.

This is especially a problem for the many small German brewers. Marc-Oliver Huhnholz, spokesperson for the German Brewers Association, says the country has more than 1,500 breweries, including more than 1,000 small “which are very strong in the restaurant industry. So they sell their beer in their bars and restaurants, and of course they are massively affected. “

One such case is Brauerei Heller, an almost 30-year-old organic brewery with its own beer garden. “We are going through the pandemic from week to week,” said CEO Anna Heller.

Strong summer activity followed Germany’s relatively short first lockdown, but when winter began, “it was all over again,” Heller said. The brewery relies heavily on draft beer; only about 20% of its production is bottled beer, which doesn’t depend so much on open bars.

Heller says she has “no idea how far and to what extent we can continue like this.”

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The German government has put in place a series of aid plans for businesses affected by the pandemic.

“We are producing now for the time after, because the beer isn’t ready right away,” said Heller, whose brewery produces some 400,000 liters (105,000 gallons) in a normal year and has 15 employees. “We have to plan, look ahead and produce ahead, but if things don’t go the way we hope, then we’ve produced for naught and increased personnel costs.”

There is little visibility for the moment on the reopening of bars and restaurants. Infection rates in Germany are gradually declining towards the government’s target level, and politicians have pledged to open schools and daycares as a priority.

Heller said she hoped for “clear numbers” from political leaders on the point at which bars and restaurants might reopen, and said it had to be recognized that they could no longer close after two weeks.

“It would break our necks,” she said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country’s 16 state governors are meeting on Wednesday to discuss the way forward.

While beer remains iconic for Germany, the country’s beer sales have been steadily declining for years due to health concerns and other factors. They have fallen 22.3% since 1993.

But last year’s drop was unusually large, and a month-to-month breakdown highlighted the impact of the coronavirus restrictions. Sales fell 17.3% in April from the previous year and 14.1% in November.

Huhnholz says some breweries have seen their revenues drop as much as 70% or 80%.

“We are hoping that if things open up around Easter at the latest, restaurant business can resume and many breweries will come out of the worst times since World War II and survive,” he said.

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Geir Moulson and Volkmar Kienoel in Berlin contributed to this report.

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