Plzen, Jan 29 (CTK) - Czech beer production will reach a record 20million hectolitres last year, about one percent more on the year, andCzech beer exports will grow from 3.54 million to 3.7 millionhectolitres, Jan Vesely, chairman of the Czech Beer and MaltAssociation, told CTK today.

 
Final results for last year covering 45 industrial breweriesoperating on the Czech market will be available in February, saidVesely.
 
Markets in the neighbouring countries of Russia andPoland grow most dynamically, while the Slovak, Austrian and Hungarianmarkets are stagnant and the German market has been falling six yearsexcept for 2006.
 
Exports grow at a slower pace but still remain the main driving force of rising Czech production.
 
Lastyear, breweries exported nearly 3.7 million hectolitres, a growth of160,000 hectolitres over 2006 when exports rose four times comparedwith 2005.
 
"I expect exports to rise by 150,000 hectolitres at most this year, with domestic sales remaining flat," said Vesely.
 
His words were confirmed by Mike Short, CEO of the largest Czech brewery Plzensky Prazdroj, at a news conference today.
 
Exports make up more than 18 percent of the output, most of them going to EU countries.
 
Now, however, it is more difficult to sell beer abroad also given the strong crown.
 
Thirty-sixpercent of Czech beer is sent to Germany, trailed by Slovakia (18percent), Great Britain, the USA, Sweden and Russia.
 
Beer consumption was about one percent higher at 16.4 million hectolitres in the Czech Republic last year.
 
Non-alcoholicbeer has become increasingly popular, and Czech breweries are projectedto have produced a record 500,000 hectolitres of this kind of beer lastyear. Its sales totalled 328,000 hectolitres in 2006.
 
Domestic consumption has long been slightly below 160 litres per person and year.
 
Ten-degreebeer output is about 50 percent higher than lager production but thegap narrows owing to the good economic situation of Czechs.
 
Short has also confirmed a shift towards consumption of premier beers. The trend will continue in the coming years.
 
Foreignersshare in average Czech beer consumption reached 20 litres in 2006,while last years estimate is 25 litres, the association said.Two more medals for classically brewed light and dark beer from moravian breweries Zubr and Litovel.

( Perov 27th of September 2007) Moravian beers Zubr and Litovelwin another award for their excellent taste and quality. The silvermedal in a prestigious degustation contest eské pivo 2007 was grantedby czech brewers and brewing experts to favourite moravian brands light beer Zubr Gold and dark beer Litovel Dark.
 
We esteemgreatly all the awards. We do so even more considered their strongperiodicity. For all our customers as well as for ourselves it is aproof of the fact that our beer is the real top of both the taste andquality commented on the recent awards Ing. Antonín Chytil, salesmanager of the brewery group Zubr, Holba, Litovel.
 
Both Zubrand Litovel are produced using classical technology. Even though thisway of production is financially and energetically more demanding, theresults pay off. It is exactly thanks to this process that the beergets its full balanced taste and typical sharp relish and thus thecompetitive advantage among eurobeers with unified taste. In contrastto the technologies used by the brewery giants, the traditionalproduction is based on natural proccesses of fermentation and longerperiod of maturation, which influence greatly the resulting taste andquality of beer. The difference can be noticed also in brewing itself.From the start we brew our beer with sight of particular degrees andtherefore we rule out the chance of its dilution with water. It is thebasic difference in comparison with today´s most used technologies ofinternational brewery giants where due to the economic constraints onetype of beer is often brewed to attain double degree and subsequentlybeing diluted with water, artificially coloured and carbonated justbefore going to bottles. The result of this process is the identictaste of multiple brands of a single big producer explains PetrKostelecký, Litovel beer brewer. Thanks to this downright traditionalproduction technologies the moravian beers Zubr, Litovel and Holba winthe degustation contests both at home as well as abroad. Last year 4medals out of 6 belonged to them in eské pivo contest (Czech beercontest). This year they won 4 more awards in Pivex Pivo roku 2007(Beer of a year).
 
In last two years Zubr Gold brought home thegold or silver medal from all the prestigious degustation contests inour country and also became the winning product of Olomouc region. Notonly the professionals but also and above all the consumers appreciateits taste, the proof if this being the rising demand. At present thecomsumption of Zubr Gold achieves 70 thousand hl, i.e. a quarter of thewhole production. Its success is proven also by the fact that itsproduction rises by more than 10% every year.
 
The dark beerLitovel Dark has already won as many as 10 medals. It is acomplementary product of Litovel brewery, but its smooth, mediumcaramel smell, characteristic bitterness, colour and medium fullnessspeaks to all lovers of classic dark beers.
 
The brewery groupZubr, Holba, Litovel is a purely czech company. Most of its productionwhich attains nearly 1 milion hl of beer a year is sold at localmarket, while around one tenth is destined for the export.
 
eské pivo contest
 
Ineské pivo 2007 contest which is announced every year by eský svazpivovar a sladoven (Czech association of breweries and malt-houses) incooperation with Výzkumný ústav pivovarnický a sladaský (Beer and maltresearch institute) the evaluation of individual samples runs in tworounds, which is unique compared to the rest of the world. Thedegustation experts judge the sensoric and analytical qualities anddecide on which beers taste the best, without knowing which beer isbeing judged. The expert analyses of competing beers are made in thelaboratories of the Výzkumný ústav pivovarnický a sladaský (Beer andmalt research institute). Every year around 70 different beersparticipate in the contest.