When the Czech Republic enthusiastically joined the European Union it didn't expect its world-famous beer Pilsner Urquell -- the original Pilsner -- to be hammered by price cutting in neighbouring Germany. As a result of cross-border trading, visitors to some Czech stores and restaurants find bottles of Pilsner Urquell bearing German labels. This is the result of lower wholesale prices in Germany encouraging some Czech companies to re-import the beer in order to boost profits.
The price of Pilsner Urquell has been rising in the Czech Republic for several years. The suggested retail price in 2000 was 14.6 Crowns and this had risen by 2009 to 19.9 Crowns. Jiri Maracek of the Pilsen brewery said: "There's no way we can dictate retail prices. The recommended price in Germany is 75 cents, which is roughly 20 Crowns."
That makes the German price equivalent to the Czech price but it doesn't take into account the fact that special promotions in Germany can lead to drastically lower prices, which are the main reason for re-importing the beer from Germany. Value added tax is lower in Germany than the Czech Republic and individuals can import up to 100 litres of beer without having to declare it to to Customs.
According to data from the Czech Statistical Office, the value of all beer re-imported from Germany was 62 million Crowns in 2009.