The Wine and Spirit Trade Association has warned consumers of a rise in the price of wines after the UK government announced a 3.1% rise in wine duty in the recent Budget.
The trading landscape for wine in the UK is already facing challenges arising out of the impact of Brexit on the pound, and inflation, the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) warned following the announcement.
Consumer Impact
As announced by the government, duty on a 750 ml bottle of wine will rise £0.07 to £2.23, while duty on sparkling wine of the same size sparkling will go up £0.09 to £2.86. Duty on a 750ml bottle of fortified wine will also go up £0.09 to £2.98.
These prices exclude VAT, which will further add 20% to the wine duty rise. The revised rates will be effective after midnight on Friday, 1 February 2019.
Based on volumes of wine sales over the last 12 months, from February 2019 onwards UK’s wine and sparkling wine consumers will be hit with an extra £90 million bill.
According to WSTA, UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond has made himself an unpopular chancellor with the wine trade, and wine drinkers after singling them out for a rise, and freezing duty on all other alcohol products.
‘Grossly Unfair’
WSTA chief executive Miles Beale, called the inflationary rise “grossly unfair, unjustified and counter-productive,” and added that as the world’s biggest wine trading nation, the UK deserves support from its government.
According to Beale, the wine segment has been the largest contributor to the UK's public purse through duty payments since 2012.
The announcement will impact the wine business’s ability to invest and grow in the country, and damage the sector which brought in almost £19 billion in economic activity last year.
After a freeze in wine duty in the November Budget of last year, the period between February 2018 to August 2018 witnessed wine duty income increase by £39 million, up 2% year-on-year.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
