Australia. Pre-mixed beverages down, wine consumption up, beer still preferred drink

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Apparent consumption of Ready to Drink (pre-mixed) (RTDs) beverages decreased 1.9% in 2009-10, following a fall of 30% in the previous year, according to figures released on Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

In 2009-10 there were 12.8 million litres of pure alcohol available for consumption in Australia from RTDs, compared with 13.1 million litres in 2008-09. At the same time, apparent consumption of spirits increased slightly (up 0.7% in 2009-10), following an increase of 13% in the previous year.

Apparent consumption of wine also continued to increase, accounting for 37% of all pure alcohol available for consumption in 2009-10. There was little change in apparent consumption of beer, which accounted for 44% of all pure alcohol available for consumption.

Overall, there were 10.4 litres of pure alcohol available for consumption per person aged 15 years and over in 2009–10, the same as in 2008-09. This equates to around 2.3 standard drinks per person per day.