Wine market faces higher prices and less choice, one company warns
Planned changes to alcohol duty will lead to higher prices and less choice for wine drinkers, the owner of wine merchant Laithwaites has warned.
The proposals, contained in October’s Budget, were described by Chancellor Rishi Sunak as the “most radical simplification of alcohol duties for over 140 years”.
But Direct Wines says the complexity would be “crippling” for the trade and small and medium firms will probably go out of business.
In the Budget, the chancellor said that under the new system for alcohol duty, which is due to start in 2023, taxes on sparkling wine, draught beer and cider would be cut, but would rise for stronger drinks such as red wine.
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) says 80% of white wines will face a duty hike, while 90% of red wines will come under a higher rate of tax.
Speaking to the BBC, the treasurer of Direct Wines, Tim Curtis said the average price of wine would “certainly go up for the UK consumer”.
“It the same cost to set up a duty rate for 12 bottles of wine as it is if you’re selling a million so inherently for small and medium merchants in the UK this is just going to become an administrative nightmare,” he said.
“The red tape is just huge so you can imagine some ranges will shrink and sadly some small and medium enterprises will probably go out of business. So for the consumer it is a case of higher cost, less choice and fewer merchants competing for their business.”
