Beer sales for Q1 2003, slightly down on last year

The president of the Small and Medium Breweries Association, Andrzej O lkowski, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) yesterday that in the first quarter of 2003, small and medium-sized brewers have sold 698,000 hect oliters of beer, which is 2% less than in last year. "The drop in sales is the result of lower excise duty imposed on stronger alcoholic drinks, which has caused a recent increase in demand for such products. Besides, the weather in areas where the majority of regional breweries are located has not been very satisfactory." commented Olkowski. He hopes that the sales for 2003 will increase by around 5%. In his opinion, one of the more the p ositive trends that he has observed recently, is the fact that small b reweries have changed their strategy and now produce the so-called no n-standard beer. Such products are usually more profitable than the lo w-priced ones that are traditionally sold to hypermarkets. (www.onet.pl; Puls Biznesu, p. 7) A.Z.