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Tomas, a reader of the tv3.lt portal, spends at least part of his holidays with his family on the Lithuanian coast every summer. He also traveled to the southern European countries of the tourists at least once a year until the quarantine.
“During the holidays, we want to get away from it all, so we try to cook less often and visit local cafes or restaurants. Sometimes we order drinks in addition to food. Usually I choose a glass of beer, and my wife – a cocktail “Aperol Spritz”, said a resident of Vilnius.
This cocktail is made with an Italian aperol drink, champagne, sparkling water, ice cream, and a slice of orange (or its juice).
“During the holidays, you try to plan your expenses and not think too much. However, this year there was a kind of “space” on our coast. A glass of cocktail in Palanga, near Kunigiškiai, costs 8.5 euros and in Giruli, 9 euros. I’ve never seen that before.
You may not pay attention, but my wife and I were in Venice last year, which is definitely not the cheapest city in Italy. And what do you think? There, from what we have seen, the same cocktail cost a maximum of 3.5-4.5 euros. How is it here? Maybe we already earn twice as much as Italians? Tom wondered.
According to data from the Department of Statistics, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products in Lithuania last August were 1.1 percent. more expensive than in July and 3.1 percent. more expensive than 2019 in August.
Recently, the EU statistical agency Eurostat published 2019 data on the cost of alcoholic beverages in the Community and compared their price levels in different countries.
Therefore, if the EU average prices are 100%, in Lithuania they were slightly lower and amounted to 99.3%.
Apart from Bulgaria and Romania, alcohol prices were lower than ours only in Slovenia (96.2%), Slovakia (95.1%), Germany (92.6%), Poland (89.4%) and Spain. (88.1%), Czech Republic (87.2%) and Hungary (80.2%).
The most expensive alcoholic beverages are found in the Scandinavian countries, where they are also subject to the highest excise duties.
Iceland (265.3% of the EU price level), Norway (260.8%), Finland (190.7%), Ireland (182.3%) and Sweden (155.9%).
Prices for strong and weak drinks vary
Saulius Galadauskas, president of the Lithuanian Brewers Guild, was asked to comment on his thoughts on those Eurostat data.
“Since in public, as head of the association, the Competition Council forbids me to speak specifically about beer prices in Lithuania, I can only note that beer in Lithuania is actually more expensive than in Latvia and Poland and not much more cheaper than in Estonia, with which we have no borders. “
However, according to the guild director, spirits and wine are cheaper in Lithuania than in neighboring Latvia and Estonia.
“Since Eurostat compares the prices of all alcoholic beverages in general, we have cheaper alcoholic beverages than in Latvia or Estonia,” commented S. Galadauskas.
In its comment, the Lithuanian Association of Producers and Importers of Alcoholic Beverages was cautious with the Eurostat data.
“It is not possible to judge the real situation from such general data, because the consumption of different types of alcoholic beverages varies greatly from one country to another, which naturally leads to price differences.
Lithuania is among the top EU countries in terms of the amount of beer consumed, which is a cheaper alcoholic beverage and this can naturally lead to a lower global average price.
In order to accurately compare the prices of alcoholic beverages in different countries, we must compare each category of alcoholic beverage separately, then we must have a clear price comparison, ”said the association.
Consumption decreased slightly
According to data from the Department of Statistics, in 2019, per capita aged 15 and over had 11.1 liters of absolute alcohol (100%) consumed (0.1 liters less than in 2018).
Last year, 2.9 million were sold in the country’s retail and catering companies. decalitrated spirits (vodka, whiskey, brandy, etc.), or 4 thousand. decaliters (0.1%) less than in 2018, wine and fermented beverages – 3.4 million. decaliters, or 6 thousand. decaliters (0.2%) more.
Like every year, the best-selling beer was 21.6 million. decaliters, or 262 thousand. decaliters (1.2%) less than in 2018.
Retail prices of alcoholic beverages in 2019, compared to 2018, increased by 2%. Bitter prices increased further: by 6.4%, vodka produced in Lithuania by 6.2%, brandy by 4.2%, beer produced in Lithuania by 2.9%, sparkling wine of grapes by 1.7% and whiskey was cheaper by 2.8%. percent
The increase in the prices of alcoholic beverages was determined for 2019. March 1 a higher rate of excise duty was introduced.
2019 0.927 million were produced. decaliliters of spirits converted to absolute alcohol (100%). Compared to 2018, its production decreased 3.7 percent. 2019 the production of grape wine and vermouth decreased by 0.46 million. decaliters, which is 1.4 percent. less than 2018
4.8 million tons of fermented beverages were produced. decaliters, which is 1.8 percent. more than 2018 Of fermented beverages, the production of cider (24.1) and still beverages (21.6) increased, but the production of fruit and berry wine (5.9) and sparkling beverages (3) decreased. The largest amount of beer was produced: 30.5 million. decaliters, its production increased 6.8 percent during the year.
In 2019, compared to 2018, beer imports and exports increased the most, by 3.1 and 22.4 percent, respectively, as well as fermented beverages, by 13.1 and 6 percent, respectively. Spirits imports increased 3.5 percent, exports decreased 2.9 percent, wine imports increased 0.8 percent, and exports decreased 1.6 percent.
In 2019, compared to 2018, there was an increase in the production, import, export of alcoholic beverages converted to absolute alcohol (100%) and a decrease in sales.
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