Latvia produced about 25.59 million litres of beer during the first quarter of the current year that is with 5.47 million litres or by 27% more than for the same period last year. In Latvia there are 25 breweries. 99.6% of all beer produced in Latvia is sold on the local market and less than 1% is exported.

Latvian analysts said that beer volumes in Latvia would increase in the second and third quarters of the year due to the seasonal beer consumption.

In the first quarter of the year Latvia imported about 1.83 million litres of beer, with 138 thousand litres less versus the same period last year. The main import was made mainly from Estonia (30.3% of all import volumes), Lithuania (30.2%) and Russia (15%). According to analysts imported beer volumes will also increase in the near future due to the summer coming.

23 May, 2003