Sales of alcoholic beverages in France dropped in January, the month after the end-of-year holidays, when people are encouraged to stop drinking.
Supermarket sales of wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages went down 6.4 percent in January compared to the year before, according to the consumer insight group Circana.
As inflation drives up the cost of food, consumers have been buying fewer non-essential items, like alcohol, but the drop in January can also be attributed to the Dry January campaign to encourage people to stop drinking the entire month after the holidays, BFM television reported.
Alcohol sales in France have been dropping each January, with 13 percent less sold in 2024 than in 2018 – this as the sale of non-alcoholic wine and beer have seen a 48 percent increase over the same time period.
Long-term trend
Last year almost one in three French people said they drank no- or low-alcohol wine or beer, according to consultancy firm SOWINE. Nearly half were under 25.
Worldwide sales of low-alcohol beverages are expected to increase over the next decade to $1.2 billion, according to market researcher Fact.MR.
But non-alcoholic beverages are not set to take over alcohol yet, as they still only represent 3.6 percent of the market.
However, figures show a longer-term drop in alcohol consumption in France.
The French public health authority Sante Publique France last month published a study showing that daily drinking in France has dropped by two thirds over the past 30 years.
