Poll: Spirits sale in Czech pubs down up to half due to poisonings

Prague, Sept 12 (CTK) - Sales of spirits in Czech restaurants have fallen by up to a half in the past two days as a result of the growing number of cases of poisoning by methanol, according to results of a quick poll conducted by analytical company Mag Consulting among restaurant owners.

Sales of spirits dropped mainly in Moravia, the poll showed.

According to the latest information, at least 16 persons have died of methanol (methyl alcohol) poisoning since last week, and about 30 others are treated in hospital. Most of the deaths occurred in Moravia.

A survey conducted Wednesday by portal lunchtime.cz for CTK in restaurants, bars and clubs in Ostrava, northern Moravia, and its vicinity showed that sales of spirits decreased in 40 percent of them in the past days.

The Czech government Wednesday approved a ban on sale of spirits containing more than 30 percent of alcohol in stalls and markets in the whole country following the deaths caused by drinking tainted alcohol.

The ban, declared by Health Minister Leos Heger (TOP 09) on television shortly after the cabinet meeting, will be in effect indefinitely. Its abolition will be announced on the public television and radio.

Sales in restaurants and other catering facilities would drop by 6 to 8 percent if a complete ban on spirits sale was introduced, according to the Mag Consulting survey.

If sale of alcohol was banned in brick-and-mortar outlets, spirits makers would see a drop in sales in the order of hundreds of millions of crowns, Petr Pavlik, CEO of the largest Czech spirits maker Stock and president of the Union of Alcohol Producers and Importers (UVDL), told CTK.

The state would lose further tens of millions of crowns in excise duty and other payments, Pavlik said. The state coffers receive around Kc18m a day in excise duty on legal alcohol, he added.

The source of the methyl alcohol is not known yet. Several hundred of checks in restaurants and other facilities were carried out on Monday and Tuesday.

Apart from the Czech victims, two people recently died after the consumption of alcohol of unknown origin in the Polish town of Kielce.