Bernard brewery output at record 212,870 hl in 2012

Humpolec, Jan 4 (CTK) - Czech family brewery Rodinny pivovar Bernard had a record output of 212,870 hectolitres of beer last year, an annual hike of over 3 percent, spokesman Zdenek Mikulasek told CTK Friday.

The brewer was doing well especially in the segment of draught beer.

"Since the beer market is a demanding market we consider the growth a success," said Mikulasek.

Slovakia is a key export market of the company. Its beer was also exported to Britain, Poland, Russia and Slovenia last year.

Rodinny pivovar Bernard, which also makes non-alcoholic beer, employs around 140 staff.

Last year's results will be released at a later time.

Q1-Q3 sales topped Kc302m last year, up from Kc287m in the same year-ago period.

Jan-Sept turnover posted an annual increase of 5.5 percent to Kc321m.

Jan Vesely of the Czech Beer and Malt Association said in a preliminary estimate on Thursday that domestic breweries' output grew by around 1.5 percent last year in annual terms. Export grew faster than domestic sales there were driven by the sale of radler beer.

Official results for 2012 will likely be published by the association in April.