Poland: Poland’s second-largest brewer to introduce another brand in PET following the success of the Warka beer

Grupa Zywiec, the second largest beer producer in Poland, is planning to introduce a plastic beer bottle for the Tatra brand, Rzeczpospolita communicated on July, 14.

The group recently launched a new, 1.5-litre, plastic beer bottle for the Warka brand. According to Sebastian Tolwinski, a spokesman for Zywiec, sales of Warka in the new containers have been better than expected and the producer had, therefore, to increase production.

At present the Tatra and Warka beers are manufactured in plastic bottles in Slovakia, but because of growing demand the group may consider moving production to Poland.

The introduction of the new plastic containers is an element of Zywiec’s strategy during the crisis, when sales of beer have been on the wane in Poland. Since the beginning of 2009 demand for beer has declined by 10% on the Polish market. Poland has reached saturation point, as beer consumption is 95 litres per capita per annum, whereas the European average is 92 litres per capita.

Despite the crisis, beer producers in Poland have not abandoned promotional activities. Kompania Piwowarska, the largest brewery in Poland, intends to spend as much money on promotion as it did last year. Zywiec has cut its spending on promotion because of the crisis but continues to support major promotional events such as the Open’er music festival. On the other hand, the Carlsberg brewery sponsors events such as Madonna and U2 concerts. It also intends to sponsor the Euro 2012 football tournament.

15 July, 2009