The distribution of various Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) genotypes was studied using beet samples received from Germany and neighbouring countries. Almost exclusively B type BNYVV was detected in Germany, whereas in neighbouring countries BNYVV A types with different compositions of the amino acid tetrad in positions 67–70 of the RNA-3-encoded P25 are widely distributed. Neither A types nor the P type have been able to become established in Germany in the past decades, although there must have been many opportunities for their introduction from neighbouring countries. In one field, however, an RNA-5-containing BNYVV genotype closely resembling the Chinese isolate Har4 was found.