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Man with beer and cigarette: changed consumer behavior
Photo: imago images / blickwinkel
During the corona crisis, people in Germany drank less alcohol than before - but at the same time probably smoked more.
This is evident from figures from the Federal Statistical Office on luxury foods.
Accordingly, beer consumption fell the most compared to 2019, by five liters to 86.9 liters per capita.
That was the biggest slump since 1993, when a comprehensive reform of the beer tax changed the valuation basis.
Sparkling wines, spirits and so-called intermediate products such as sherry or port wine also found slightly fewer buyers than in the previous year.
No consumption figures were yet available for non-taxable wine.
Only red and rosé wines became more expensive
The experts see the lack of drinking opportunities in restaurants that have been closed for months and numerous canceled major events as the main reason for the decline.
The alcohol-free varieties, which are actually very trendy, also suffered from this with a production decline of 1.8 percent to 4.1 million hectoliters.
For the first time since 2012, the number of breweries based in Germany also fell.
It decreased by 24 to 1528.
Due to weak demand and the lower value added tax in the second half of the year, retail beer prices also fell by 0.9 percent.
For the other alcoholic beverages, only red and rosé wines were slightly 0.2 percent more expensive than in the previous year, all others were a little cheaper.
Since January 2021, however, statisticians have observed rising prices for spirits again.
More tobacco sales, but fewer cigarettes
In the case of tobacco, taxed sales rose in all product groups - with the exception of cigarettes.
The value of taxed tobacco products climbed by 5.0 percent to 28.8 billion euros, although the number of taxed cigarettes fell by 1.1 percent to 73.8 billion pieces.
Despite strong price increases, significantly more fine-cut tobacco was taxed, contrary to the long-term trend.
The statisticians suspect that hand-rolled cigarettes served many smokers as a substitute for cigarettes from abroad that were difficult to obtain during the lockdown.
These cheaper cigarettes, like contraband, are not included in the German tax statistics.
Once again there was also high growth rates of 44.3 percent for pipe tobacco, which also contains fillings for water pipes and products for tobacco heaters.
caw / dpa-AFX
