Toasting sun and fun

After selling more than 30 million hectolitres (hl) and experiencing growth of five percent in 2005, beer-industry experts said that the result would be hard to repeat in 2006, and indeed they weren't duplicated. As estimates of the Union of Brewing Industry Employers (ZPPP) show, consumption last year surpassed that of 2005, as beer sales in Poland reached 32.5 million hl. This represents an increase of 7.2 percent.

"This result is the effect of Poles' income increasing, of the World Cup and especially of the good weather," the president of ZPPP, Paweł Sudoł, explained. The impact of warm weather was clearly seen during the unusually warm fall months. In the fourth quarter, beer consumption was 10.8-percent higher than in the corresponding period of the previous year. In the summer months (Q3) consumption grew seven percent year-on-year.

Last year also saw exports of Polish beer grow. Polish producers exported 880,000 hl of the beverage, just 8,000 hl more than in 2005. However, the largest breweries (members of the ZPPP) increased foreign sales by 26 percent to 414,000. This growth took place mainly in exports to Ireland and, the UK and according to experts, is the result of the large Polish migration to these countries.

As far as the prognosis for 2007 goes, Sudoł is very cautious. "We would like the market to grow about two to three percent from the 2006 level," he said. He also revealed that the industry estimates that Polish breweries' production capacities allow for sales of 35-36 million hl.

However, a factor that could prevent the industry from growing as rapidly as it did in the last two years is the level of consumption in Poland. "It is currently at the level of 85-86 liters [per capita annually]," Sudoł explained. This means that Poland has reached the average European level of consumption.