Series
Alcohol Available for Consumption
en-NZProduction Statistics - Alcohol for Consumption
en-NZStatistics New Zealand
en-NZAlcohol available for consumption statistics provide statistical information on the volume of alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, spirits and spirit-based drinks) available for consumption in New Zealand. The volume available for consumption comprises: (i) that which is imported into New Zealand (less re-exports), as sourced from Statistics New Zealand merchandise trade data, and (ii) that which is produced in New Zealand for local consumption and on which excise duty has been paid, as sourced from excise data provided by the New Zealand Customs Service. The data excludes alcoholic beverages produced by households. Data is published quarterly via Infoshare, and in an annual information release with accompanying tables (for the year ended December).
en-NZThe purpose of Alcohol Available for Consumption series is to provide statistical information on the volume of alcoholic beverages (including wine, beer, spirits and spirit-based drinks) available for consumption in New Zealand, on a quarterly and annual basis.
en-NZ
Unnamed Universe
en-NZ
External users: Alcohol available for consumption data is used by the Health Promotion Agency (formerly the Alcohol Advisory Council), other Government departments, industry groups and other businesses.
Internal users: Alcohol available for consumption data is used as input data in the calculation of Household Consumption Expenditure statistics, and in the calculation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
- Quarterly
1986: With the abolition of bonded warehouses due to the introduction of GST in October 1986, the means of calculating alcohol available for consumption was revised. However, the time-series has been maintained.
2010: On 1 September 2010 the tobacco available for consumption series was discontinued to meet Statistics NZ's obligation to ensure confidentiality of published statistical information.
These statistics measure how much alcoholic beverage is released to the domestic market, and therefore available for consumption. They do not measure actual consumption.
Information is not available to measure the change in the level of stocks that are held before sale, and therefore not yet consumed.
The figures also exclude alcoholic beverages produced by households.
Studies
Coverage
Data Collection
This data collection provides an overview of the methodology for the collection and processing of the alcohol statistics.
en-NZMethodology
Data source
The volume of alcohol available for consumption comes solely from administrative data. No direct surveying occurs. We obtain information from two sources: New Zealand Customs Service (NZCS) and Statistics New Zealand's merchandise trade statistics.
NZCS provides figures on beer, spirits, spirit-based drinks, and wine produced for local consumption on which duty is paid; Statistics New Zealand's merchandise trade statistics provide data on imports less re-exports. We exclude domestically produced beer and wine with less than 1.15 percent alcohol content, and alcoholic beverages produced by private individuals at home.
Accuracy of the data
Alcohol per person
We calculate the volume of pure alcohol available per person by dividing year-ended total alcohol volumes by Statistics New Zealand's quarterly population estimates. Four series are used: estimated population aged 15 years and over, 18 years and over, 20 years and over, and estimated total New Zealand population.
Calculating the average number of standard drinks available
We use the definition on the Health Promotion Agency's website that one standard drink equals 10 grams of pure alcohol to calculate the average number of standard drinks available for consumption per person per day.
Calculating the volume of alcohol available from beer
We calculate the volume of alcohol available from beer using specific conversion factors for each of the five categories NZCS uses to calculate excise duty. To convert the volume of beer available for consumption to the volume of alcohol, we multiply the volume data by the following conversion factors:
| Alcohol content (percent) | Conversion factor |
|---|---|
| Not more than 1.15 | 0.0115 |
| More than 1.15 but not more than 2.50 | 0.01825 |
| More than 2.50 but not more than 4.35 | 0.04 |
| More than 4.35 but not more than 5.00 | 0.04675 |
| More than 5.00 | 0.051 |
Calculating the volume of alcohol available from spirits and spirit-based drinks
The data used to calculate available spirits is expressed in absolute alcohol content. However, data for spirit-based beverages with an alcohol content of less than 23 percent are expressed in litres.
We calculate the volume of alcohol in spirit-based drinks using specific conversion factors for each of the five categories used by NZCS to calculate excise duty. To convert the volume of spirit-based drinks available for consumption to the volume of alcohol, we multiply the volume data by the following conversion factors:
| Alcohol content (percent) | Conversion factor |
|---|---|
| Up to 2.5 | 0.015 |
| More than 2.5 but not more than 6 | 0.045 |
| More than 6 but not more than 9 | 0.08 |
| More than 9 but not more than 14 | 0.11 |
| More than 14 but not more than 23 | 0.18 |
Calculating the volume of alcohol available from wine
To calculate the volume of alcohol available in table wine (that with an alcohol content of not more than 14 percent) and fortified wine (that with an alcohol content of greater than 14 percent) , we multiply the volume data by the following conversion factors:
| Volume of alcohol (percent) | Conversion factor |
|---|---|
| table wine | 0.11 (or 0.0527) |
| fortified wine | 0.18 |
The conversion factor used for table wine depends on the input classification of the data.
More information
See Alcohol availability for more information.
Statistics in this release are produced in accordance with the Official Statistics System principles and protocols for producers of Tier 1 statistics for quality. They conform to the Statistics NZ Methodological Standard for Reporting of Data Quality.
en-NZCoverage
National level only
en-NZ