Budějovický Budvar hits record output, plans investments to boost capacity
The state-owned Budějovický Budvar brewery in South Bohemia sold a record amount of beer last year, in fact, the largest amount in its history. At the same time, the brewery reached its production and logistics limit.
Budějovický Budvar now wants to invest 1.5 billion crowns into its development. The planned investments by 2019 are expected to boost its production capacity by 20 percent.
“We have already completed the first project in our development strategy, which is the purchase of new pressurised tanks, and we are currently launching construction of a new logistic centre,” Budvar’s brewer master Adam Brož told the Czech News Agency. The brewery is also planning to enlarge the capacity of its cellars and bottling plants. In 2020 overall production should reach over two million hectolitres of beer.
The chief brewer believes that the larger amount of beer will find its customers on the market. “If we look at growth in recent years, we can see that our expectations are not unrealistic,” he said.
Over the past six years, Budějovický Budvar increased its production from 1.25 million to 1.6 million hectolitres of beer. The turnover increased year-on-year by nearly 14 percent to 350 million crowns.
Over 50 percent of the brewery’s production is sold on foreign markets. Last year, some 898,000 hectolitres of beer were sold abroad, while over 700,000 hectolitres were sold in the Czech Republic.
Budvar is currently exporting to 76 countries around the world. Exports to Russia and Ukraine has been declining in recent years due to the political situation in the region. Some 85 percent of the sales are made up by Budějovický Budvar products, while the rest comes from the Pardál brand.
The Budějovický Budvar brewery was established in 1895 and is the last state-owned Czech brewery.
