Siobhain Ryan | May 29, 2008
SALES of alcopops plummeted by almost 40 per cent in the fortnight after last month's lightning tax hike on the drinks but any health gains have been offset by a 20 per cent jump in stronger, straight spirit sales.
The first national data on sales of pre-mixed and straight spirit sales will be released today by the Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia as the Rudd Government continues to defend the alcopop excise increase as a way to cut binge drinking.
The council's information and research manager Stephen Riden said the data made a mockery of the Government's stated aim.
"The words 'abject failure' would spring to mind," Mr Riden said.
"This is an unintended consequence of the Government's decision to tax a narrow range of products. It defies common sense that people would not shift to other products."
Mr Riden said one major company, which did not want to be named, had seen its bottled, full-spirit sales skyrocket: up 85per cent in the month after the April 27 excise increase compared with the same period a year earlier. Its alcopops volume declined 30 per cent.
He said the switch had effectively increased the amount of standard drinks consumed by a quarter.
The DSICA data, drawn from the latest Nielsen ScanTrak survey of liquor retailers and independent bottleshops nationwide, showed a 20 per cent increase in sales of hip flask (375ml) bottles of full-strength spirits.
Sales of 700ml bottles rose by 21 per cent.
By comparison, sales of dark-spirit alcopops favoured by men over the age of 25 dropped by 39per cent, DSICA said.
The dark-spirit drinks mix scotch, rum and bourbon with cola and other soft drinks.
Light-spirit drinks, containing the vodka, gin and white rum preferred by females, saw a 37per cent slide in sales.
Despite the figures, Health Minister Nicola Roxon yesterday stood by Treasury's target of reducing the forecast growth in alcopop sales by 42.7 million bottles in 2008-09 as a result of the excise hike.
"This is a measure that has been in force for fully one month now," she said. "We are confident that it will have an impact."
Ms Roxon said young people in particular - the targets of the Rudd Government's crackdown on binge drinking - were "very price sensitive", although she acknowledged some would keep consuming alcopops regardless.
"I would be a very happy cabinet minister if we didn't collect the full amount of that tax because consumption had reduced even more heavily," she said. "But if we had put in the budget papers an expectation that suddenly every person across the country stopped drinking alcopops we would be accused of being totally unrealistic."
Instead, Treasury modelling assumed a modest 4 per cent slowdown in alcopop sales from the levels that would have been reached without the excise increase.
The Rudd Government's decision to target alcopops for higher excises has proven controversial because other drinks - such as cask wine and full-strength beer - with equal or higher alcohol content face lower taxes.
The Opposition has vowed to block the measure in the Senate.
