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Beer still king but production down
Beer remains easily the most popular alcoholic beverage in New Zealand but latest figures show it drove an overall decline in alcohol available for consumption.
Statistics New Zealand said the total volume of alcohol available for consumption dropped 3.1 percent to 471 million litres during 2009, the first fall after eight years of annual increases. Beer, which makes up about 65 percent of the market, declined 5.1 percent.
Spirits and spirit-based drinks now make up 15 percent of the total volume of alcohol available for consumption, down 0.1 percent, while wine represents 20 percent, up from 19 percent in 2008, said business statistics manager Kathy Connolly.
The number of cigarettes available for consumption in 2009 also dropped, down 4.5 percent, to 2.4 billion.
The statistics measure how much alcohol and tobacco is available for consumption, not how much is consumed.
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Beer is King? I doubt it
I bet dollars spent on beer is much lower than wine, even though volume is much higher... which means beer is far more the "pawn" than the "king".