I recently traveled to Prague where beer was extremely cheap, usually around $1-$2 USD in supermarkets for 16 oz. cans. Even brands like Heineken and Stella were this cheap. What are the main factors for this?
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3 Answers
It is in my opinion mainly thanks to low excise duty on beer in the Czech republic.
Another factor is the fact that there are lower prices of almost everything in the Czech republic (I am talking mainly about local food and beverages).
And last but not least, Czech republic is I guess second or third in the whole world in beer consumption, which means there is high level of demand for traditional czech beer, which allows producers to produce beer in large quantities.
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1I made a little more research and came with an interesting result. There is higher excise duty in the Czech republic than it is for example in Germany or France while beer is more expensive in both countries. What does it say is that of the three mentioned reasons there is one more - historical market prizes of beer. Beer market in the Czech republic is wide. Consumers want low prizes, more producers are willing to fight with lower prizes and therefore the prize on the market stays low (beer is not really a money maker in most Czech pubs)– ZaxCommented Dec 16, 2014 at 1:16
I am Czech and I would say there are few factors to it.
Firstly many grocery products are cheap as well as services which makes beer affordable even in restaurants.
Most importantly there is long historical tradition in drinking beer. It is common to drink it with lunch, it is usual to visit the pub for a chat with friends and drink 1,2 or 10 beers there. Beer is cheaper than water in restaurants and this is another reason why people prefer it to other drinks.
It is said that the government can do anything unless they increase the price of beer. The pub is often the cultural center of many villages where people meet after work and when we are there we drink beer.
Consumption of beer in the Czech Republic has been the highest in the world for many years. Bavarians claim that it is the highest in Bavaria, but they are not an independent country. Anyway, if we talked about historical lands then consumption of beer in Bohemia (Czechia's "mainland") would be higher than Bavaria.
