Spirit-based Drinks Up; More Alcohol Available

Alcohol and Tobacco Available for Consumption: Year ended December 2006  –  Media Release

An increase in spirit-based drinks was the leading contributor to a new high in the total volume of alcohol available for consumption in the December 2006 year, Statistics New Zealand said today. The volume of spirit-based drinks has increased every year since 1996.

The total volume of alcoholic beverage available for consumption in the December 2006 year was 463.9 million litres, for the first time exceeding the level recorded in 1986 when the series started. After generally decreasing from 1987 to 1997, the total volume of alcohol available for consumption has increased almost every year since then.

Beer still remained the most popular type of alcoholic beverage in New Zealand – accounting for more than two-thirds of the total available for consumption in 2006. However, the volume of beer available for consumption was 2.0 percent less in 2006 than in 2005.

In 2006, wine provided over 20 percent of available alcoholic beverage, with domestic production contributing approximately three-quarters of the 93 million litres of wine available in New Zealand.

During the December 2006 year, the number of cigarettes available for consumption was virtually unchanged from the 2005 year. The number peaked at 6.3 billion in 1977. Levels were generally above 6 billion until 1984, but have been below 2.5 billion for the last four years.