OTTAWA, April 20 (UPI) -- Beer held its shrinking dominance of alcohol sales in Canada over wine and spirits in 2009, Statistics Canada reported from Ottawa Tuesday.
For the year ending March 31, 2009, sales for all alcoholic beverages totaled $19.4 billion, of which beer had a 46 percent market share, seconded by wine with 29 percent and spirits making up the balance.
In 1993, beer had a 53 percent market share and wine had 18 percent.
Wine sales totaled $5.7 billion worth of wines during the year, up 4.6 percent from the previous year. Red wines accounted for 64 percent of the total sales, the report said.
Liquor sales were $4.9 billion during the period, up 2.9 percent from the previous year, due largely to a 5.6 percent increase in vodka sales, StatsCan said.
The agency said the figures don't reflect the total amount spent by consumers on alcoholic beverages, since the prices paid in bars and restaurants are higher than the source purchase prices.
