Finland: Beer sales decline by 4.4% in H1 2008

Sales of beer continued to decline in Finland in the first half of 2008. By the end of June sales of beer had gone down by 4.4 percent from the same period last year, Newsroom quoted the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry of Finland on August 14.

The drop was explained by the hike in the tax on alcohol, sales restrictions, and growth of production costs.

Timo Jaatinen, managing director of the federation, warns that in the present situation, further increases in the price of beer would spur inflation and encourage more personal imports by individual travellers.

The companies belonging to the federation, Hartwall, Nokian Panimo, Olvi and Sinebrychoff, sold a total of 203 million litres of beer during the first half of the year.

19 August, 2008