Beer in the Czech Republic

PRE-COVID-19 PERFORMANCE

Craft beers and eco-friendly packaging drive innovations and partnerships in 2019

The rising popularity of 11- and 12-degree beer continued in 2019, along with the consumption of speciality beer such as wheat, IPA, unpasteurised, and semi dark beer. Seasonal limited editions were also seen to be proving popular, such as green lager during Easter and special flavoured lagers, such as caramel, chocolate and honey during Christmas.

Non-alcoholic flavoured beer sees numerous product launches to meet consumer demand

Non-alcoholic beer continued to be a rising trend in 2019, with a rising number of pubs and restaurants offering draught non-alcoholic beer in both flavoured and non-flavoured variants, along with no-alcohol mixed lager. This is attributed to health and wellness trends in the Czech Republic, with a rising number of people taking up active sports and following healthier lifestyles.

Plzenský Prazdroj maintains lead thanks to strong brand portfolio and constant innovations

Plzenský Prazdroj as continued to lead beer in both value and volume terms in 2019. In addition to its investment in craft beer, seasonal specialities and the new Pivovar Proud microbrewery subsidiary, the player has a wide portfolio of products, including: Pilsner Urquell; the Velkopopovicky Kozel range; the Gambrinus range; and the Radegast range.

2020 AND BEYOND

COVID-19 impact

On-trade volume sales of beer are expected to fall by 28% in 2020 in light of the impact of COVID-19. This compares to an expected 1% decline forecast for 2020 during research conducted in May 2019, i.

Affected products within beer

Small breweries are being the most impacted, as they typically do not have the investment to withstand periods of downturn. Therefore, the microbreweries which have experienced a huge boom in recent years, are now fighting for survival following the impact of COVID-19.

Recovery and opportunities

Off-trade is believed to partially compensate, and takeaway options have helped pubs and restaurants survive. In particular, takeaway draught beer proved popular with consumers, supported by the Czech Association of Breweries and Malthouses initiating the “Save the Beer!” (“Zachran pivo!”) campaign.

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