E-Malt.com News article: USA: Budvar sales of Czechvar beer soar 58% in USA in H1 2007

Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar saw sales of its beer Czechvar soar 58 percent in the USA in Jan-June this year, Budvar's PR agency said, according to CTK, July 16.

Czechvar is distributed in the USA by Budvar's rival Anheuser-Busch. Budvar management would not disclose the amount of Czechvar sold on the US market but the company believes beer sales in the USA will set a record this year. According to available information, up to 8,000 hl were sold in the USA a year, and the figure might grow up to 12,000 hl this year.

Beer sales in the USA in the second half of the year will be discussed with Budvar's partner in August, Budvar head Jiri Bocek has told CTK. Growth in beer sales is projected at some 50 percent in the USA this year, said Bocek. Budvar and Anheuser-Busch signed a contract for Czechvar sales in January this year. The two brewers have wrangled over the Budweiser trademark for more than 100 years. Disputes have been settled gradually, some of them won by the US company and others by the Czech brewer.

In 2000 to 2006, Budvar was leading 86 disputes with Anheuser, winning 69 and losing 12 of them. Five cases had neither a winner nor a loser. Budejovicky Budvar is the third biggest brewery in the Czech Republic and ranks among the leading beer exporters in the country. Last year, it raised exports by 7 percent to a record 556,000 hl of beer. It sells beer in nearly 60 countries on five continents. Budejovicky Budvar output rose by 5 percent to 1.151 million hl of beer last year. Gross profit increased by 15 percent on the year to Kc267.2m. Jan-June beer supplies to the domestic market amounted to 319,737 hl, up 11 percent year-on-year.

Budejovicky Budvar's major export territories and exports in 2006 1 Germany 190,000 hectolitres 2 Great Britain 106,000 3 Slovakia 60,000 4 Austria 45,000 Italy 10,000 USA 8,000.


18 July, 2007