Fall in Alcohol Sales
Figures released by HMRC show a fall in the volume of alcohol sold in the UK in the financial year 2008/09.
Reduced consumption was seen in all classes of alcoholic
drink apart from cider, which showed a 1% increase, following much
larger increases in recent years. Sales of wine fell by 9%, reversing a
9% increase the previous year. The long-term trend for wine sales has
been a steady increase, though with large year-on-year fluctations more
recently.
Sales of spirits fell by 6%, following relatively stable
levels of consumption since 2003. Since consumption increased
dramatically in that year, the volume sold in 2008/09 remains higher
than in was in any year from 1986/07 (the earliest figures reported by
HMRC) to 2001/02. The volume of beer sold also fell by 6%, continuing a
downward trend since 2003, having been relatively stable for the two
decades before that.
These figures are for total sales in the UK. The latest
figures hgave not yet been calculated in terms of litres of pure alcohol
per adult, which gives the best indication of alcohol consumption.