Travellers’ private imports of brewery beverages at an all-time high – domestic sales stable

Domestic sales of brewery beverages remained almost unchanged in 2016. Sales of beer, cider and long drinks fell by a total of 1.6 million litres, or 0.3 per cent. Lifting restrictions on store opening hours did not boost sales of alcoholic beverages. Sales of soft drinks and mineral waters rose by a total of 3.6 million litres, or 1.2 per cent. Water sales growth pushed total sales into the black. These figures are based on sales statistics compiled by the members of the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry: Captol Invest, Hartwall, Olvi, Red Bull, Saimaan Juomatehdas and Sinebrychoff.

A total of 756 million litres of brewery beverages were sold in 2016. Domestic sales rose by 2.1 million litres, or 0.3 per cent, on the previous year. However, over the last ten years, domestic sales of beer, cider, long drinks, soft drinks and mineral waters have contracted by over 90 million litres, representing a fall of just over 10 per cent.

Conversely, the National Institute for Health and Welfare’s 2016 report on travellers’ private imports of alcoholic beverages shows that imports of brewery beverages are at an all-time high. Travellers imported a total of 59.6 million litres of beer, cider and long drinks in 2016. Imports by volume of brewery beverages rose by 17 per cent on the previous year.

Travellers’ private imports of beer alone are already four times the volume of beer sold by Alko. According to an official study of travellers’ private imports, only a third of the beer imported from Estonia is produced in Finland.

Estonia has planned a 70 per cent increase in its beer tax for summer 2017. However, even after this increase, Estonia’s beer tax will still be less than half of Finland’s. Finland’s beer tax is currently the highest in the EU, and is many times larger than Estonia’s. Beer taxation in Finland has been increased five times since 2008. Finland also imposes higher VAT than Estonia, and the price difference is further increased by Finland’s higher deposit on beverage containers.

“The Finnish brewing trade has been facing an increasingly restricted scope for conducting business and, as a result, domestic sales have been falling for a long time. In order to curb travellers’ private imports, the new Alcohol Act must quickly be brought into force and the tax on beer, cider and long drinks should be lowered,” says Elina Ussa, Managing Director of the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry.

Preparations for the new Alcohol Act have been ongoing for years, and in May it will be a full year since political policies were decided upon. The new Act will revoke over-regulation and have a positive impact on the national economy. It will increase competition in the domestic market and boost domestic sales at the cost of cross-border trade.

DOMESTIC SALES, 2016

Source: Member companies of the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry. The statistics do not include sales by actors outside the Federation nor private imports of brewery products, which are not statistically recorded. As of the beginning of 2011, the statistics include all the brands of the members of the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry and any private label brands they produce.

Additional information:
Managing Director Elina Ussa, tel. +358 (0)45 269 7711
Communications Manager Outi Heikkinen, tel. +358 (0)50 370 8677

The Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry promotes the interests of producers of beer, cider, long drinks, soft drinks and mineral waters in Finland. Its members are Captol Invest Oy, Oy Hartwall Ab, Olvi Oyj, Red Bull Finland Oy, Saimaan Juomatehdas, and Oy Sinebrychoff Ab. The Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry is a member of the Finnish Food and Drink Industries Federation.