Feb 27, 2023
By Bob Komsic
Canadians bought less alcohol last year.
Statistics Canada reports the volume of beer sold per-person reached an all-time low, while wine sales; also based on volume, experienced its largest decline since tracking began in 1949.
Beer sales were down 2.8%, wine sales fell 4% with overall alcohol sales down 1.2% last year; the first decline since 2013/14 and largest in more than a decade.
Ciders and cooler sales continue to grow with totals for both was up 13.5%.
Stats Canada stresses sales should not be equated with consumption as they do not include sales from u-brew, which sell ingredients for consumers to make their own beverages.
The numbers come ahead of a planned new federal tax hike of over 6.3% to all beer, wine and spirits, set to take effect in April 1.
Introduced in 2017, the tax rises annually in accordance with inflation.
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