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Aussie Beer Drinking Market Goes Flat, Slumping to 65-Year Low

03 May 2012 12:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. Beer drinking in Australia fell to the lowest level since the end of World War II as wealthy consumers opted for wine and others shifted to the hard stuff, Bloomberg reported.

Beer consumption measured in pure alcohol content fell to 4.23 litres per person in the 12 months to June 30, 2011, the weakest reading since 1946, from 4.45 litres a person a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. Consumption of spirits rose to 1.32 litres from 1.28 litres, while wine imbibing totalled 3.74 litres, near the prior yearâ€™s record high.

â€œA more multicultural Australia and higher income and wealth levels goes a long way to explaining increased wine consumption since the 1970s,â€ said Savanth Sebastian, an economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), the nationâ€™s largest lender. â€œPerhaps in the current climate, more people are looking for a good, stiff drink,â€ he said, referring to liquor consumption.

Australiaâ€™s beer-drinking reputation was burnished by former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, the most successful leader of the ruling Labour Party, winning four elections in the 1980s and early â€™90s before being ousted by his party. The Rhodes Scholar set a record for the fastest consumption of a yard -- more than a litre -- of beer while studying at the University of Oxford.

Beer drinking in Australia peaked in 1975, at 9.2 litres of pure alcohol per person, according to the statistics bureau.