Alcohol prices 0.7% down in year to May

At 0.2 per cent, Alcohol & Tobacco were among the three main factors contributing to the monthly increase in prices of 0.1 per cent during May, according to CSO figures. The CSO stated that the rise was due to “higher prices for spirits sold in off-licences and supermarkets”.

Overall, May’s Alcohol prices remained on a par with April but showed a decrease of 0.7 per cent in the 12 months since last May while the three-month average showed a decrease of 0.6 per cent.

This compares to a rise of 2.7 per cent for consumer prices generally since May 2010.

In the off-trade itself in May, Alcohol increased in price by 0.5 per cent over April comprising Spirits (up 3.4 per cent) and Beer (up 0.2 per cent), while Wine & CIder prices were down 0.5 per cent compared to April.

Over the 12 month period, off-trade prices for Alcohol fell 1.2 per cent comprising a drop of 2.2 per cent in Wine & Cider prices and a fall of 0.1 per cent in Beer prices.

On-trade prices showed a monthly decrease of 0.1 per cent for Beer and Wine & CIder.

Over the 12 moths, on-trade prices for Wine & Cider fell 0.1 per cent while prices for Spirits fell 0.2 per cent with a 0.3 per cent fall recorded for Beer and Soft Drinks & Mineral Water.