Czech Republic: Czech beer output seen up at 19.8 million hectolitres in 2006

Czech beer output should grow roughly by 4 percent year-on-year to 19.8 million hectolitres this year, Czech Beer and Malt Association head Jan Vesely said today, according to Prague Daily Monitor, December 19.

Data for January-November suggest a 4 percent increase, and the beer industry should retain this pace at the end of the year, he added.

The growth will still be pulled by exports, which should grow to 3.5 million hectolitres from last year's 3.1 million hectolitres.

Czech breweries are increasingly successful on foreign markets and the ratio of exports to total production grew to almost 18 percent in the first half of the year, against the global average of 6 percent.

Germany was still the largest market for Czech beer exporters, covering 40 percent of the total volume. Slovakia came second.

Vesely said output for the domestic market was likely to grow as well this year, mainly owing to a long, hot summer.

Czech consumption has been more or less flat around 16 million hectolitres for a long time.

The figure represents about 160 litres per person and year, but brewers say Czechs have been drinking less beer and the figure is flat owing to an increasing number of incoming tourists.

The Beer and Malt Association has said on its website foreigners drink about 12.5 percent of beer sold to the Czech market, which is about 20 litres of the 160 litres sold per head every year.

Total beer output will also grow owing to the increasingly popular alcohol-free beers, said Vesely. In 2005, Czech breweries made 239,000 hectolitres of soft beer, but this year's output may be 100,000 hectolitres higher, also owing to stricter rules for drivers introduced in July.

In 2005, Czech breweries produced 19.07 million hectolitres of beer, a year-on-year growth of 1.7 percent. They exported 3.1 million hectolitres, a growth of 17 percent against 2004.

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