Brewers toast a vintage year

After nine months of 2005 the sales of beer in Poland grew by 4.8 percent in comparison to the same period of 2004. "Based on these figures, I expect the annual results to be between four and 4.5 percent higher than last year's. The sales should exceed 30 million hectoliters," said Paweł Sudoł, president of the Union of Brewing Industry Employers (ZPPP) and head of Kampania Piwowarska, the market leader.

In 2004 the annual sales of beer on the Polish market were 28.8 million hectoliters. Sudoł praised breweries' market activity, particularly with regard to controlling prices and costs. "Good products and a nice summer also contributed to the rise in sales. The producers managed to use the good weather well," he said.

While over 50 percent of beer is sold in bottles, over one-third of beer sold is in cans. "This is a major difference between our market and the traditional beer countries, where a significant part of all beer sold is draught beer," Sudoł says. In Poland this amounts to only around 10 percent of the market.