In Poland, the early effects of the global financial crisis have been mainly felt in the banking, real estate and automotive sectors, but a slowing economy will quickly make itself felt elsewhere, as the country's beer industry is discovering.

"Since the start of the calendar year, the growth trend has slowed," says Dieter Schulze, general director for Kompania Piwowarska, the Polish affiliate of South Africa's SABMiller, and Poland's largest brewer. "We had growth in the high single digits at the beginning of the year; now we're flat."