British wine lovers may face a significant increase in the cost of their favourite bottle, with experts warning that Brexit, inflation and a duty increase are all set to push up the price of alcohol.
The prices of champagne and prosecco in the UK could rise by £1 and 59p per bottle respectively, the Wine and Spirit Trade Association warned on Tuesday.
The cost of an average-priced bottle of champagne will go up by 5 percent, while a bottle of sparkling wine will go up by 9 percent. Higher inflation and the impact of the pound’s devaluation are likely to have the biggest effect on the wine and spirits industry in the next year, the WSTA warned:
“With Brexit costing 29p per bottle and rising inflation indicated by the Bank of England last week adding a further 17p, further duty rises could make it a triple whammy for consumers who are already paying a staggering amount of wine and spirit duty,” Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA said.
The news comes just as the UK inflation figures for January came in higher than expected, evidence that consumer prices are rising faster than expected and giving weight to the WSTA’s claims. The Bank of England has warned that inflation is likely to go above their 2 percent target in the next year.
The government is also looking to raise duty on alcoholic goods, adding further costs to alcohol for British consumers. Already the UK pay some of the highest duty on wine in Europe – consumers pay £2.67 in duty on a bottle of Champagne, in comparison to France where the duty is around 6 pence.
The British people’s taste for wine shows no sign of slowing; Brits bought 131 million bottles of fizz from UK shops and supermarkets in 2016, up 13 percent on the previous year.