4315.0 - Apparent Consumption of Selected Foodstuffs, Australia, Preliminary, 1996-97  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 26/11/1997   
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MEDIA RELEASE

November 26, 1997
Embargoed 11:30am (AEST)
158/97

Light beer, wine and soft drink consumption continues to grow

Australians are continuing to drink more light beer, a style now accounting for a quarter of all beer consumed. However, the consumption of full strength beer and total beer is falling, according to preliminary consumption estimates for 1996-97 released today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Australians drank 23.9 litres each of low alcohol beer in 1996-97, a rise of 6.7 per cent on the previous year. Consumption of full strength beer declined by 2.9 per cent to 70.8 litres per person. Overall, total beer consumption showed a decline for the eighth successive year with a fall of 0.7 per cent to 94.7 litres per person. Wine consumption rose 3.9 per cent to 18.8 litres per person.

Soft drinks continued to gain popularity with 119.9 litres consumed per capita, up 4.6 per cent. This is the fifth consecutive annual increase.

Australians increased their meat intake with apparent per capita consumption of meat and meat products up 4.7 per cent to 77.1 kilograms in 1996-97.

Major contributors to the increase were beef, up 9.0 per cent to 38.6 kilograms and mutton up 18.4 per cent to 6.7 kilograms per person. The consumption of poultry remained fairly steady at 28.1 kilograms per person.

Milk consumption remained steady at 104.2 litres per person. However, the apparent consumption of tea and coffee fell with per capita intake of tea at 0.8 kilograms and coffee at 2.0 kilograms.

Butter consumption showed a fall at 2.7 kilograms per person, down 5.5 per cent when compared with 1995-96. The per capita consumption of dairy blends also fell, by 10.4 per cent to 0.7 kilograms per capita.

Consumption of table margarine declined by 13.4 per cent in 1996-97 to 4.7 kilograms per person. The per capita consumption of other margarine also fell, by 22.1 per cent to 1.9 kilograms.

Details are in Apparent Consumption of Selected Foodstuffs, Australia, 1996-97 Preliminary (cat. no. 4315.0) available in ABS bookshops in all capital cities.