British Columbians are drinking less alcohol, according to new British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch wholesale data.
All major alcohol segments saw declines in wholesale volumes while almost all saw declines in dollars spent. That festival's theme region this year was Italy, and that country's wine wholesales fell a comparatively small 0.3 per cent in dollars, and 0.5 per cent by volume. By volume those buyers stocked up with 53,243,936 litres of beer, down 3,519,375 litres from 56,763,311 litres in the first three months of 2023.In the first three months of 2019, B.C. wholesale buyers purchased $228,874,241 worth of beer. By volume, those buyers purchased 60,044,448 litres of beer, or 12.77 per cent more than in the first three months of this year.
All spirits categories were down in volume and dollars, except for the small Asian spirits category, where buyers spent $2,812,944 in the first three months of 2024, up $22,150, or 0.8 per cent from $2,790,794 in the same three months in 2023.