Beer market growth surpasses expectations and may rise by up to 4%

After the first four months of 2002, it appears that large brewers, which aim to increase their market share, are currently succeeding, their prediction that beer sales would increase by 2% to 4% this year, exceeding previous forecasts. "We estimate that this year the beer market will increase by 2%," said Brau Union president Werner Jansel. According to Kompania Piwowarska spokesperson Pawel Kwiatkowski, the beer market is set to increase by 4%. According to data from the Beer Industry Employers' Union (ZPPP), after the first quarter of 2002, beer sales rose by 6.7% to over 4.6 million hectolitres in comparison with last year's results. However, the data do not include all brewers. The leader on the beer market, the Zywiec group owned by Heineken, which holds 34% of the market, has after three months sold over 1.6 million hectolitres of beer - 11.7% more than last year. After the first quarter of 2002, Kompania Piwowarska, with a 32% market share, has recorded sales growth of 104.3%. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B4) A.Z.