Cider creeping in to Polish market

Cider producers are hoping for an increase in sales of some 50 percent in 2014, with a number of producers starting up this year. Around 40 percent of alcohol shops in Poland currently stock cider, as opposed to 80 percent stocking wine and 100 percent of shops carrying beer. According to Rzeczpospolita, the rise in cider production is due to a lowering of excise duty on cider. In 2013, excise stood at PLN 97 per hectoliter of cider up to 5 percent alcohol by volume. Earlier, excise amounted to PLN 158 per hectoliter. Despite a growth in production, cider is still seen as a niche drink. Based on data from the Centrum Monitorowania Rynku (Center for Market Monitoring), one cider producer, Jacek Jantoń, told the daily that in 2013, cider sales accounted for 1.5 percent of the wine market, worth some PLN 1.9 billion in 2013. “Cider is a perspective beverage, but it needs more marketing tools,” producer Grzegorz Bartol told the daily, while Jantoń believes that in a few years cider sales will account for 5 percent of all wine-related sales.