ITALY: Beer consumption down due to tax hikes | Progresiv
Italian beer consumption dropped by three per cent in the first five months of 2015 due to higher taxes, claims a study commissioned by the Association of Italian Beer and Malt Producers (Assobirra). 
The study, prepared by Format Research, indicates that the 30 per cent tax hike in the period between October 2013 and January 2015 is impacting the entire sector, including farmers, over 600 producers (large companies and micro breweries), operators of bars and restaurants, distribution and services companies.
The taxes are also slowing down the growth of micro breweries (from +20-25% to just +4%), while with lower excise duties could be generated between 3,000 to 11,000 new jobs. Currently, the whole sector employs a total of 136,000 people.
The excise duty in Italy comes to about 0.37 euro per litre of beer, while the EU countries that do not apply it on wine (like Italy) levy a much lower tax on beer. France, for example, applies a tax on beer similar to Italy (0.35 euro), but charges also wine (0.04 euro for still and 0.09 euro for sparkling).
The sector comes from 10 years of lack of market growth and the data of the first 10 months of 2014 indicate a slight decrease (-0.6%). The situation has had a double impact: on one hand Italian companies have a limited ability to break into international markets (after years of double-digit growth exports have stabilized at about 2 million hectolitres), while on the other beer imports have grown from 4.9 million litres in 2004 to 6.2 million in 2014. (www.esmmagazine.com)
