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By Lucy Draper
Deputy News Editor
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Despite a Russian trade embargo on its apples, Poland's fruit suppliers and cider-makers are brimming with confidence as the drink has rapidly grown in popularity across the country.
Apples are a major export for Poland as around 174 hectares of its territory are covered in orchards, producing up to 2.6 million tonnes of apples a year according to Polish fruit and vegetable supplier Agro Alians.
In response to Russia's decision to stop importing apples from Poland due to Warsaw's support for EU sanctions on Russia, fruit growers and cider-makers united last month to form the Lublin Association of Cider Lovers - a campaign intending to market the Polish apple-growing basin as a heartland of cider much in the same way as Italy's Tuscany wine region.
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The initiative comes at a good time, as new figures have revealed that Poles have become big fans of the alcoholic beverage in recent years. Consumption of cider jumped to 10 million litres in 2014, compared to two million in 2013 according to Polish news agency Newseria.
Award-winning sommelier Tomasz Kolecki-Majewicz who now works for Polish cider brand Cydr Green Mill believes that the drink is here to stay in Poland, and may soon reach the same level of popularity which it enjoys in countries where it's been on sale for longer, such as the UK, France and Spain.
"In the next few years, cider will become one of the most significant parts of Poland's alcohol market," he told Newseria.
Kolecki-Majewicz says that he expects Polish cider consumption to reach 30-50 million litres a year in a short period of time and that he believes an ambitious target for Polish cider-producers would be to replace France as the country which consumes the drink the most, second only to the UK. By his estimates the French drink 80 million litres of cider a year.
He added that cider in general has the potential of a broad appeal in Poland as sommeliers can add a wide range of flavours to it besides apples, including blueberries, honey and even sangria.
Kolecki-Majewicz suggests the drink could be appealing due to its relatively low calorie content, in comparison to other alcoholic drinks. He estimates cider contains 36-42 calories per 100ml.
Last year, cider maker the Ambra group, told Polish national daily Rzeczpospolita that the country's cider industry could be worth as much as 1 billion zloty (€250m) within the next decade Polskie Radio reports.
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