We are led to believe that the rapidly rising duty charges on alcohol are part of the Government’s campaign to lessen the problems caused by binge drinking.
The truth is though, that rising alcohol prices will contribute to drinking problems in the UK.
If you have looked at the supermarket shelves since the budget, you really won’t have noticed any difference in the price of wines and spirits. The big names like Tesco and Sainsbury have such buying power that they are able to pass back any extra costs they face to their suppliers, forcing the producers to drop their prices to counteract the rise in duty. Great! You can still get your three bottles of plonk for a tenner!
There are problems with this though:
- Many producers are struggling to constantly lower their prices and so are dropping out of the UK market (with many gong bust!).
- Smaller retail outlets, off licences and wine merchants have to cover the extra charges in duty and so their prices are increasingly uncompetitive with many going out of business. Therefore, smaller wine and spirit producers, who do not produce the volume to deal with the supermarkets, cannot find distribution for their quality products in the UK.
Why will this contribute to drinking problems? Because eventually, the only affordable choice will be flavourless, bland drinks that due to the lack of complexity and the very short finish, will encourage us to drink more quickly without realising.
Rising duty costs are a stealth tax against taste!
