Standard International Trade Classification
U.S. imports of Beer Made from Malt (Including Ale, Stout, and Porter) (SITC 11230) totaled $600.2M in August 2026, imported from 85 countries.
Importers of Beer Made from Malt (Including Ale, Stout, and Porter) paid $5.9M in duties in August 2026, an average duty rate of 0.98% — duty actually collected as a share of the imports that cleared customs, not the published tariff schedule.
Last updated: August 2026 dataMalt-based beers—spanning lagers, ales, stouts, porters, and specialty craft styles—are a high-volume, widely traded beverage alcohol category subject to TTB importer permitting and COLA requirements for each label. The heading encompasses both mass-market imports and the growing craft import segment, where style-specific descriptors (IPA, imperial stout, barrel-aged) appear on labels that must each receive TTB approval. Duty treatment is applied per liter of alcohol content, and the federal excise tax rate for imported beer was modified by the Craft Beverage Modernization Act, with reduced rates available for qualifying smaller foreign producers. State-level alcohol import and distribution licensing adds a parallel compliance layer that varies significantly by destination state.
AI-written summary of the official U.S. Census Bureau trade figures on this page — verify before relying on it.
12.5K import shipments a month
Yes. Under the Craft Beverage Modernization Act, qualifying foreign brewers producing below specified annual volume thresholds may assign their reduced excise tax rate to a US importer. The importer must file the appropriate assignment with TTB and maintain documentation of the foreign brewer's production volume. The rate tiers and eligibility rules are set by statute and should be confirmed with a TTB specialist.
At minimum, importers need a TTB basic importer's permit and a Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) for each beer label. The COLA application requires the label to comply with TTB's beer labeling regulations, including mandatory statements of alcohol content, net contents, and responsible advertiser. State distributor and retailer licensing requirements must also be satisfied before the product reaches consumers.
Basic heading 1 of 21 in section 1
Basic heading 11230 · $600.2M of $2.5B
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ImportsExports
Imports
$600.2MYoY · free account
Exports
$36.0MYoY · free account
12-mo low · imports
Low · free accountOver the twelve months to August 2026, the U.S. imported $6.7B of Beer Made from Malt (Including Ale, Stout, and Porter) and exported $349.0M.
Through August 2026. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
Imports · August 2026
origin
Mexico and Netherlands together supply 94% of it.
customs district
Census does not publish district detail for this classification system.
destination
Census does not publish state detail for this classification system.
entry
Census does not publish port detail for this classification system.