Last month we wrote that in Finland, since June 5, it is legal to sell wine (and other alcohol drinks) below 8% alcohol in regular grocery stores. (Finland seems a bit more advanced and liberal-minded than Sweden when it comes to alcohol regulations.) It had a quick effect with lots of <8% wines on the market. It also seems to have had a quick and dramatic effect on sales in Alko’s shops (the Finnish monopoly stores).
Sales figures at Alko fell sharply in June 2024:
- Wine, all categories: -14.7%
- Sparkling wine: -17.2%
- Champagne: -21%
- Red wine: -16.4%
- Rosé wine: -10.8%
- White wine: -13.2%
If it is due to sales in grocery stores, one can only speculate, but it seems likely.
A few comments: Champagne has clearly suffered a substitution effect. There is no <8% champagne, but there are plenty of alternatives. Champagne has recently seen a general decline in sales (see other notice) so this hardly comes as good news for the expensive bubbly.
Rosé wine also fell, but comparatively little. It is perhaps an effect of that during the summer, sales would normally rise significantly. But this year it was instead a less dramatic fall than for red and white in the monopoly stores.
(Thanks Petri Pellinen for the numbers.)
