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What the Budget means for wine and spirit prices

Published:  08 March, 2017

Wine and spirit duty is set to increase from 8p for a bottle of wine and by 43p for a bottle of gin as a result of the Chancellor's decision to make alcohol subject to inflationary rises.

The revised rates, due to come into effect after midnight Sunday 12th March, means duty on a 750ml bottle of wine will increase by 8p to £2.16 and by 10p to £2.77 for sparkling, with fortified wine duty up 11p to £2.89, according to the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) - the rate of inflation is 3.9%, calculated by using the RPI estimate for September 2017 provided by the Office of Budget Responsibility.

Duty on a 70cl bottle of 37.5% abv vodka will increase 28p to £7.54, while duty on a 40% abv 70cl gin bottle will go up 30p to £8.05.

While WSTA said it was disappointed by the Chancellor's decision not to cut duty on alcohol, chief executive Miles Beale welcomed the sign that Hammond cared about "levelling the playing field". "It is important that he treated all alcohol products equally," he said.

Beale also applauded the introduction of a consultation on a new duty band for still wine and made wine between 5.5% and 8.5% abv. "This category holds a great deal of potential for innovation, especially for lower abv products."

As a result of the Budget, the level of tax - excise duty and Vat - on an average priced bottle of Scotch Whisky would be 79% - one of the highest levels in Europe, and 21% higher than in 2010, said the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA).

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