Czech winemakers claim that, according to their data, the consumption of so-called still wine has been decreasing for a long time. It has been lively around him in recent months, because still wine is the only type of alcohol that escapes excise duty. In general, there is more and more talk among Czech politicians about the need to regulate alcohol together with other substances. However, the Wine Association states in its press release that as a result of the economic situation and changes in people’s behavior in the Czech Republic last year, wine consumption fell by 8.4 percent.
“The wine industry is struggling with a drop in consumption as a result of the economic situation, changes in consumer behavior, the climate and the absence of systemic political decisions across Europe. All of this also has a direct impact on the decline in the planting of new vineyards and currently even the decline in the acreage of existing vineyards,” said the wine association in a press release available to the editors.
It refers to data from the research company Consumer Panel GfK, according to which the market for still wines developed negatively in 2023, thus continuing the downward trend from previous years. The volume of household consumption fell by 8.4 percent in 2023, and unlike most other categories, the average value for still wines also fell by 7.5 percent. “The reason is a significant loss in the number of buyers and a decrease in the volume purchased per household by 2.7 percent. On the contrary, the average price for 1 liter increased by 1 percent, and still wines thus belong to the category with the lowest increase in average price,” the winemakers claim.
“Current data on declining sales and consumption only confirm the fulfillment of negative forecasts from recent months. At the same time, we expect that this year the decline will be even more drastic,” says Martin Chlad, president of the Winemakers’ Association of the Czech Republic. According to him, consumption is also falling in other EU countries.
Taxation of wine
The possibility of introducing an excise tax on so-called still wine in the Czech Republic has been discussed repeatedly, but it has always provoked strong opposition from domestic winemakers. It was the same last spring, when the National Economic Council of the Government (NERV) recommended the taxation of still wine to the government as one of the options for improving the state of public finances. Last year in May, the government announced that it did not want to introduce a tax on still wines in the plan for the recovery of public finances.
Since then, there have been discussions about the next step without a clear outcome. The working group that is revisiting this topic has discussed several options in the past. These include the previously discussed minimum price per unit of ethanol in alcoholic beverages or the variant rate of 23.40 crowns per liter, which now applies to sparkling wines.
“Negotiations took place, but we did not reach a final, unified conclusion. The working group ends its operation today and further steps must be prepared by the tax administrator, i.e. the Ministry of Finance, and must be decided at the political level, not at the level of the Ministry of Agriculture,” said Minister of Agriculture Marek Výborný some time ago.
The decline in wine consumption, concerns about the introduction of a tax on still wine and climate change are leading winemakers in the Czech Republic to be cautious. They plant fewer vineyards and restore fewer. The Vinařská unie, which brings together the 30 largest wine producers in the Czech Republic, found this out in a survey among its members. She announced this in a press release in March.
“We are faced with a declining consumption of still wines, increasing demands for the greening of vineyards and uncertainty about excise duty, which leave us unsure of what lies ahead. At the same time, our field is extremely sensitive to changes and requires careful planning many years in advance. For example, in the case of planting new vineyards, when the winemaker harvests the first grapes after four years, the risk is currently so high that most winemakers cannot take it,” said union president Ondřej Beránek.
On the other hand, in the Chamber of Deputies, the initiative to do something about alcohol as such is getting stronger. In the coming months, a group of members of parliament wants to focus on proposals for the possible regulation of alcohol in the Czech Republic after the law on the regulation of psychomodulating substances is enforced. The first working meeting has already taken place. For example, MPs Klára Kocmanová (Pirates) and Michaela Šebelová (STAN) take part in this. They mentioned, for example, double verification of age when purchasing as possible measures.
According to the annual report on alcohol for last year, the Czech Republic is among the countries with the highest average consumption per inhabitant, on average it is ten liters of ethanol per year. Up to a tenth of adults drink daily, and almost a fifth of Czechs drink at risk. Doctors estimate that up to 230,000 people have a problem with alcohol. According to research from the year before last, a quarter of fifteen-year-olds got drunk repeatedly. The report states that alcohol is responsible for six percent of deaths in the Czech Republic, taking the lives of around 7,000 people a year. Because of alcohol-related diseases, 14,000 people end up in hospitals every year.
