Beer dominance weakening in Canada

OTTAWA, June 9 (UPI) -- Canadians' consumption of alcohol grew by 4.9 percent in 2007, with wine sales advancing on beer, the Statistics Canada agency reported Monday.

During the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007, Canadians age 15 and over purchased more than $18 billion worth of alcoholic beverages, the fastest rate of growth in sales since 2003, the agency said.

Sales averaged $667 per person, with 405.7 million liters of wine purchased, up 7.1 percent from the year before. A liter is slightly larger than a U.S. quart.

Canadians bought 2.3 billion liters of beer in 2007, up 1.6 percent from 2006. Per-capita beer sales have declined 27 percent from a peak of 115.2 liters in 1976, StatsCan said.

Various provincial and private liquor stores sold $4.5 billion worth of spirits in 2006-2007, up 5.8 percent from the previous year, with a 10 percent sales increase reported in vodka, the report said.