Industry anger over report on alcohol spending

THE drinks industry has reacted angrily to a report that claims people are spending more on alcohol than they do on food.

Food lobby group Agri Aware released figures that showed consumers spent €7.1 billion on alcohol last year compared with €6.5bn on food.

The Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) said the report is misleading as it highlights the inequity of penal tax rates on alcohol whereas there are none on most foods.

DIGI said the report ignored that consumers paid out €3bn in taxes through alcohol spending while most food attracted no taxes.

A DIGI spokesman said the report also ignored the money spent by Irish consumers on food outside of the home.

“They’ve ignored any spending on food in restaurants, coffee shops or fast-food venues but in the case of alcohol they’ve included spending in pubs, restaurants and off-licences,” he said.

Agri Aware said it released the figures in an attempt to bring balance to the argument that food prices here are too high.

The group said that it does not deny that food bills have risen over the past few years but said people are now working less time to put food on the table.

Its study showed that for every €1 Irish people are spending on food they are forking out 73 cent more on alcohol, tobacco and mobile phones. However, DIGI said this type of report gives statistics a bad name.

“It’s not reliable for any purpose and all it does is highlight the penal levels of tax that consumers have to pay on alcohol. The consumer pays more tax on alcohol than any other consumer in Europe,” said the DIGI spokesman.

In response to the drinks industry claims, Agri Aware chairman Mairead Lavery said just 7% of household income is spent on food and given the inflationary pressures in the economy today, food still represents good value.

“The facts are consumers spent €6.5bn on groceries, €7.1bn on alcohol, €2bn on cigarettes and €2.2bn on mobile phones in 2007. Food prices in particular have received a huge level of criticism recently but the reality is we are spending less and less on our staple foods.

“Consumers have a choice on what to spend their money on, this is simply the purpose of our campaign.”