THE SLOVAK BEER INDUSTRY AFTER THE ENTRY INTO THE EUROPEAN UNION

At the present time over 90% of the Slovak beer market is dominated by two multinational giants and three smaller breweries. The Slovak beer market is significantly influenced by the dominance of the two largest companies, which are in addition foreign owned. The following paper is concerned with the issue of increasing the excise duty on beer and its consequences for consumption of the studied product and the aim is to demonstrate the tax burden in relation to domestic producers and beer consumption in the domestic market. Data on consumption and the evolution of excise duty rates were compared ex post and conclusions were drawn using an analysis of economic indicators and the time period considered is the 16 years from 1999 to 2014.