Poland: Beer production shifting towards non-alcoholic brands

Polish beer production is shifting towards non-alcoholic beers due to declining alcohol consumption trends, the conservative Polish weekly Do Rzeczy reported, citing a report by the Polish Brewery Employers’ Association.

In the report, the advocacy organization writes that “we are witnessing a real revolution in beer consumption in Poland.” Sales of non-alcoholic beers increased dramatically in 2018, increasing by a total of 250 percent by 2024, reaching about two million hectolitres last year, according to the newspaper.

For 52 percent of Poles, non-alcoholic beers are a “good alternative” to alcoholic beverages, the weekly quotes Bartlomiej Mokrzycki, CEO of the Polish Brewery Employers’ Association.

One reason for this phenomenon is the so-called NoLo fashion, i.e. the growing popularity of zero or low-alcohol beverages, the newspaper writes.

The consumer trend that can also be seen in other countries seems to be permanent in Poland, with the total consumption of alcoholic beverages decreasing by 8.7 percent between 2019 and 2023, and the decline in beer in Poland was 9.9 percent.

Over the past three years, the production of alcoholic beer has decreased by 3.7 percent per year, while the production of non-alcoholic beer has increased by 2.7 percent per year – the newspaper quotes Michal Kolesnikov, an analyst at the Polish bank PKO BP.

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