ABOUT THE PUBLICATION
This publication provides estimates of apparent consumption of alcohol based on the availability of alcoholic beverages in Australia. The publication provides estimates of the quantity of beer and wine available for consumption, and estimates of the quantity of pure alcohol available for consumption from beer, wine, spirits, and ready to drink pre-mixed products.
The publication also provides estimates of apparent per capita consumption. This is the total apparent consumption divided by the total population aged 15 years and over. The choice of the population 15 years and over is to be consistent with international standards for measuring trends in apparent consumption over time, and is not intended to imply anything about the actual levels of consumption of alcohol by persons under the age of 18 years.
Estimates of apparent consumption are derived using information related to supply. In the case of beer, supply is derived by combining excise data on beer produced for domestic consumption from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), data on imports from the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS), and an estimated component for home production. For wine, supply is derived using data on domestic sales collected directly from winemakers, quantity measures of import data, and an allowance for home production. As a result, data are an approximate estimate of the amount of beer and wine available for consumption, and of the amount of alcohol available as beer and wine.
For spirits (including ready to drink spirits), supply is only available in terms of the quantity of alcohol. This is obtained by combining excise data on domestic production of spirits from the ATO, with data on importation of spirits from the ACBPS. To avoid double counting, alcohol which is imported as material for the purposes of domestic production of spirits is excluded from the importation data.
No adjustment is made for change in stocks, and all alcohol available for consumption in a particular year is assumed to have been consumed in that year.
Results of the Review of the Publication
As a result of changes in the data available for use in this publication due to excise tariff reform, a review of the Apparent Consumption of Alcohol series was foreshadowed in the last release. This review was completed in March 2009, and concluded that the series should continue. However, the review did recommend a new method for estimating the quantity and total alcohol content for beer. Please refer to paragraph 11 of the Explanatory Notes for more details.
KEY POINTS
The total quantity of pure alcohol available for consumption in alcoholic beverages produced in Australia continues to increase. Between 2006–07 and 2007–08, the total quantity of pure alcohol available for consumption increased by 1.4% from 168.1 million to 170.5 million litres of alcohol. Of the total litres of alcohol available for consumption in 2007-08, beer contributed 46%, wine 31%, spirits 12% and ready to drink pre-mixed products 11.0%.
The apparent per capita consumption of pure alcohol by persons aged 15 years and over decreased slightly by 0.5% between 2006-07 and 2007–08, after an increase of 1.7% between 2005-06 and 2006-07 (Table 1).
The estimated quantity of pure alcohol available for consumption from beer increased by 1.6% to 78.0 million litres of alcohol in 2007–08. Apparent per capita consumption of pure alcohol available for consumption from beer for persons aged 15 years and over decreased to 4.6 litres of alcohol per person (Table 1).
There was a slight decrease in the quantity of alcohol available for consumption from wine between 2006-07 and 2007–08, from 53.8 million to 53.6 million litres of alcohol (Table 1).
The quantity of alcohol available for consumption in the form of spirits (excluding ready to drink pre-mixed products) increased by 4.3% between 2006–2007 and 2007-08 (19.4 and 20.2 million litres of alcohol respectively). The apparent per capita consumption of alcohol in the form of spirits (excluding ready to drink pre-mixed products) by persons aged 15 years and over increased by 2.3% (Table 1 ).
The quantity of alcohol available for consumption in the form of ready to drink pre-mixed products increased by 3.1% between 2006–2007 and 2007-08, from 18.1 million to 18.7 million litres of alcohol. Compared with 2006–07, apparent per capita consumption of alcohol in the form of ready to drink pre-mixed products for persons aged 15 years and over increased by 1.2% to 1.09 litres of alcohol per person in 2007-08 (Table 1).
Table 1 PURE ALCOHOL, Available For Consumption—Years ended 30 June
 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Available for consumption ('000 litres of alcohol) | | | |
| Beer (a)(b) | | | |
| Low strength (>1.15 and =<3.0) | r5,876 | r5,395 | 4,847 |
| Mid strength (>3.0 and =<3.5) | r8,750 | r9,336 | 9,535 |
| Full strength (>3.5) | r60,792 | r62,087 | 63,645 |
| Total Beer | r75,418 | r76,818 | 78,027 |
| Wine | r51,400 | r53,787 | 53,591 |
| Spirits (c) | r19,154 | r19,355 | 20,178 |
| Ready to drink pre-mixed products (d) | r16,383 | r18,123 | 18,693 |
| Total | r162,355 | r168,084 | 170,489 |
|
| Apparent per capita consumption (e) |
| (litres of alcohol/person) | | | |
| Beer (a)(b) | | | |
| Low strength (>1.15 and =<3.0) | r0.36 | r0.32 | 0.28 |
| Mid strength (>3.0 and =<3.5) | r0.53 | r0.56 | 0.56 |
| Full strength (>3.5) | r3.68 | r3.69 | 3.71 |
| Total Beer | r4.57 | r4.57 | 4.55 |
| Wine | r3.11 | r3.20 | 3.13 |
| Spirits (c) | r1.16 | r1.15 | 1.18 |
| Ready to drink pre-mixed products (d) | r0.99 | r1.08 | 1.09 |
| Total | r9.84 | r10.00 | 9.95 |
(a) Due to excise tariff reform in July 2006, data may not be directly comparable with data prior to 2005-06 (see Explanatory Notes, paragraph 11).
(b) Beer estimates for 2005-06 and 2006-07 have been revised due to methodological changes.
(c) Excludes ready to drink pre-mixed products (see Explanatory Notes, paragraph 18).
(d) Ready to drink pre-mixed products include spirit based, wine based and other unspecified based products (see Explanatory Notes, paragraph 19).
(e) Per capita estimates are based on the population aged 15 years and over (see Explanatory Notes, paragraph 23).
"r" indicates revised data (see Explanatory Notes, paragraphs 22 and 24).
The volume of beer available for consumption in 2007-08 increased slightly (1.4%) from 1,800.7 million litres in 2006-07 to 1,826.5 million litres. Full strength beer, which increased by 3.0% or 40.1 million litres, accounted for most of the increase in total beer volume, followed by mid strength beer, which increased by 2.1% or 5.7 million litres. However, low strength beer decreased by 10.0% or 20.0 million litres in 2007-08. The apparent per capita consumption of beer decreased marginally by 0.5% from 2007-06 to 106.6 litres (Table 2).
The quantity of wine available for consumption decreased slightly from 486.2 million litres in 2006–07 to 484.3 million litres in 2007-08 (a 0.4% decrease), with the apparent per capita consumption of wine by persons aged 15 years and over decreasing from 28.9 to 28.3 litres of wine over this period, a change of 2.1% (Table 2).
Table 2 VOLUME OF BEER AND WINE (a), Available For Consumption—Years ended 30 June
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| Available for consumption ('000 litres) | | | |
| Beer (b)(c) | | | |
| Low strength (>1.15 and =<3.0) | r216,002 | r200,596 | 180,551 |
| Mid strength (>3.0 and =<3.5) | r250,090 | r268,017 | 273,728 |
| Full strength (>3.5) | r1,302,751 | r1,332,100 | 1,372,185 |
| Total beer | r1,768,843 | r1,800,713 | 1,826,465 |
| | | |
| Wine | 463,151 | r486,225 | 484,327 |
Apparent per capita consumption (d)
(litres/person)
Beer (b)(c)
Low strength (>1.15 and =<3.0) |
r13.1 | r11.9 | 10.5 |
| Mid strength (>3.0 and =<3.5) | r15.2 | r15.9 | 16.0 |
| Full strength (>3.5) | r78.9 | r79.3 | 80.1 |
| Total Beer | r107.2 | r107.1 | 106.6 |
| | | |
| Wine | r28.1 | r28.9 | 28.3 |
(a) Volume information is not available for spirits and ready to drink pre-mixed products.
(b) Due to excise tariff reform in July 2006, data may not be directly comparable with data prior to 2005-06 (see Explanatory Notes, paragraph 11).
(c) Beer estimates for 2005-06 and 2006-07 have been revised due to methodological changes.
(d) Per capita estimates are based on the population aged 15 years and over (see Explanatory Notes, paragraph 23).
"r" indicates revised data (see Explanatory Notes, paragraphs 22 and 24).
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