Okocim reports first quarter sales up 31% year-on-year

Okocim brewery sold 321,000 hectoliters of beer in the first quarter, the most dynamic performance in the entire sector. Okocim recorded a sales increase of 31% year-on-year over 2000, surpassing Austrian Brau Union group, with sales of 310,000 hectoliters of beer. Grupa Zywiec, comprising Warka, Lezajsk, EB and Zywiec breweries, still leads the market with 1.46 million hectoliters of beer sold in the first quarter. However, Kompania Piwowarska, with its Lech and Tychy breweries, is catching up to Zywiec, having sold 1.42 million hectoliters of beer in the same period. The industry as a whole recorded a 6% increase in sales. January's 28% spurt and February's 11% increase were unnaturally high, the result of stock-piling by wholesalers before a scheduled increase in excise tax on beer. Despite the encouraging results so far, representatives of the sector expect the year to be extremely difficult, since another excise tax increase is scheduled for June, and drastically restrictive new regulations for beer advertising come into effect in the autumn. (Puls Biznesu, p. 5) A.D.