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Czech beer producers appeared to face a reprieve from feared retaliatory sanctions from Russia. On Thursday, PM Dmitry Medvedev followed through on announced sanctions by President Vladimir Putin the previous day, listing a specific ban on fruits, vegetables, milk, dairy products, meat and fish imports from the EU as well as US, Norway, Canada and Australia. The ban, in reaction to sanctions imposed by the EU and US over Russian alleged intervention in eastern Ukraine, will last for one year. The head of the Czech Beer and Malt Association had stated a Russian embargo on Czech beer would immediately incur losses of hundreds of millions of crowns, and could lead to job cuts as well. The Czech Republic annually exports some 500 million crowns worth of beer to Russia.

Czechs boast a long and rich brewing tradition which they have often shared with the rest of the world. Czech-built breweries now exist in countries such as Georgia, Ukraine, South Africa and Vietnam. But one Czech firm has ventured to a country few would associate with a love of lager: North Korea. The Hradec Králové-based ZVU POTEZ last year built a micro-brewery in North Korea’s special economic zone of Rason, and now hopes the deal will lead to more opportunities in the deeply repressive country. I spoke to the firm’s commercial director Martin

While Czechs are among Europe’s most prodigious consumers of beer, the percentage sold in the country’s pubs has fallen to a historic low. This has led breweries to push their own branded restaurants, linking the pub experience to sport and quality dining and introducing other innovations, the newspaper Hospodářské noviny reported on Wednesday.

In this week’s Business News: Polish oil company tightens grip on Czech oil sector; Home Credit targets take off in China while suffers Russian setback; minority shareholders shun PPF O2 offer; rival brewer face off in Czech city; and iconic cosmetic companies goes Greek.

In this week’s Business News: later exist from weak crown probable; first major Malaysian investment announced; tax freedom day arrives; Ahold told to curb some of its supermarket purchases; and cider looks like becoming a Summer hit.

In this week’s Business News: minister seeks duty cut on beer; Iraq seen widening military shopping list in Czech Republic; solar power case causes bank concerns; PPF pulls plug on power company cooperation; and Czech Post considers banking metamorphosis.

With temperatures in the 30s more people than ever are reaching for a frothy pint of the golden brew to quench their thirst. And, after years of strictly conservative tastes, many Czechs are now ready to trade their Pilsner or Budvar for a new experience – a craft beer from one of the country’s mini breweries.

Pivovary Lobkowicz, parent company to a number of Czech beer brewers including Platan, Lobkowicz and Černá Hora, has become the first such company to join the Prague Stock Exchange.

Pivovary Lobkowicz, the fifth biggest beer maker in the Czech Republic, has sold off 2.3 million newly-issued shares through an IPO with the option for another 230,000 shares, the company stated Friday in a press release. The offered price per share for traders and institutional investors was 160 crowns. An additional 3.4 million shares were to be part of the offer but the original shareholders opted to hang onto their shares. The company’s trading on the Prague Stock Exchange will start on May 28. The total volume of traded shares, including the option, is worth around 405 million which corresponds to market capitalisation at 1.87 billion, the company said. Apart from domestic investors, investors from Austria, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia were drawn by the offer.

In this week’s Business News: weak crown could be prolonged amid deflation fears; beer lovers encouraged to buy brewery stake; Vietnamese banking giant targets Czech market, competitive rail tenders to roll this year; and ‘the Dominator’ struggles with his drink.