Sweden's state alcohol retailing monopoly Systembolaget has posted yet another drop in sales for the month of June. The company saw sales fall last month by 7.5% year-on-year. The sales of strong beer, the only type of beer sold in Systembolaget stores, dropped by 5.5% compared to the same month last year. Sales of spirits slipped by 16%, while wine sales decreased by 4.9%. Cider sales and other mixed drink sales fell by 12%. Systembolaget attributed the falling sales once again to the cross-border shopping and lower alcohol excise duties in neighbouring Denmark and Finland.

Denmark cut its alcohol tax by 47% in October 2003 and Finland trimmed it by 40% on 1 March 2004 in an attempt to reduce the negative effects of the accession to the European Union on 1 May of the Baltic states and Poland, where alcohol prices are lower.

In the autumn of 2003, Systembolaget called for a reduction of alcohol taxes in Sweden claiming that Swedish customers, especially from the southern and northern part of the country, would prefer buying cheaper alcohol from Denmark and Finland.

In 2003, cross-border shopping of wine, beer and spirits accounted for 22% of the total alcohol consumption in the country, compared to 14% in 1996, the year after Sweden became a European Union member.

As a result of the high tax and decreased sales, Systembolaget warned that it would be forced to close a number of stores and cut jobs especially in border regions.

13 July, 2004