Dr. Sylvain Charlebois - Yesterday
Total beer sales have actually dropped 7.3% compared to last year, according to a report obtained by Beer Canada.© Provided by Toronto Sun
When listening to reports about people going out and enjoying the weather, one can only assume that everything is back to normal. Not quite, especially for the beer industry in Canada. In fact, total beer sales have actually dropped 7.3% compared to last year, according to a report obtained by Beer Canada.
Total beer sales are up in Newfoundland and Labrador by a whopping 20.1%. But in other provinces, beer sales for both retail and service have dropped significantly. The largest drop so far this year has been in the province of Quebec. Beer sales have dropped 13.3% compared to last year. In Saskatchewan, sales have dropped by 12.6% and in Alberta, by 10.7%. All areas are in the red, except for the Territories. In the beer business, a simple -1% is massive, so the -3.3% in Ontario is considered a disaster. These drops are in addition to a disastrous 2021 when lockdowns were the norm to combat COVID. When things started to open earlier this year, this is not the scenario the beer industry was expecting — far from it.
In volume, beer sales are 8.3% below pre-pandemic levels. Beer sales have dropped for a variety of reasons. Firstly, our labour shortage is clearly a contributing factor. Restaurants are either closing earlier, or not opening some days during the week. Many locations are now opening only five days versus seven days as before. Many locations will close at 10 p.m. versus 12 a.m. or 2 a.m. Again, many operators cannot get the staff.
Public events are back, but we have had fewer of them across the country. And attendance in many cases have dropped significantly from pre-COVID standards. It will take a while before people get comfortable with our new post-COVID reality. We’re not sure what is in store for us this fall, pandemic-wise, but we are expecting people to behave with extreme caution, as they should.
As for consumers, they appear to be in a different place now. Home consumption beer sales this year so far have returned to pre-pandemic levels. But sales for beer consumed at restaurants and events remain 35% to 40% below pre-pandemic levels. Over the last three years or so, many of us were drawn instead to wine, spirits, and other products. Seltzer and ready-to-drink alternatives are also becoming more popular. In a nutshell, Canada went from being an on-premises beer drinking country to a more at-home wine and spirits drinking market. Many of us have tried new products and have experimented with new tastes and brands. These experiences have drawn many away from beer. Canadians are still drinking beer, but the numbers are telling us the percentage of beer drinkers has dropped significantly.
The other factor of course is inflation. Alcohol is obviously discretionary for consumers, and many are cutting back expenses these days to cope with skyrocketing food prices. Beer prices have also risen by 10% to 15% in the last 12 months, and will likely rise even more next year. In 2017, Ottawa introduced an indexation formula to raise taxes on beer, based on our consumer price index (CPI). With this year’s CPI, the deferral portion of taxes on beer could rise by up to 7% in April 2023, which is a record. Some provinces have expressed some sympathy by not raising their own tax portion on alcohol products, but not Ottawa. At least, not yet.
In essence, working from home changes our behaviours and food choices. The beer situation is one good example of how the food industry is being affected by a more home-based food market. People will drink beer at home, but going to events, and seeing friends at different locations will get people to consume more, but differently. Continuing labour issues and market changes will entice the food industry to adjust and seek new opportunities, for better or worse.
In the meantime, the year 2022 was to be a comeback year for the beer industry. Looks like it may need to wait a little longer for that to happen.
— Sylvain Charlebois is senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University and a former member of the University of Regina faculty.
New study offers sobering info on alcohol and health risks
The boundaries of safe drinking have been redrawn.
Liz Braun - TORONTO SUN - TODAY
New study offers sobering info on alcohol and health risks© Provided by Toronto Sun
When it comes to drinking alcohol, is would seem less is better.
A report from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) reveals that health risks skyrocket if you consume six or more alcoholic drinks a week — and those risks include seven types of cancer as well as heart disease and cirrhosis.
Two drinks a week (or fewer) is a low-risk undertaking.
Between three and six carries moderate risk; risk level is high, “for those who consume above six standard drinks per week, with increasingly higher levels of risk with every additional drink,” according to the report.
The risks of health harms for women increase more steeply than for men once you go above low levels (two drinks a week) of consumption.
The report states that women experience more risk of damage or disease, “such as liver disease, at lower levels of alcohol consumption than do males.
“In general, males are more likely to develop alcohol use disorders, but females are more likely to develop organ and other bodily damage from drinking alcohol,” the report says.
The new guidelines, based on global research, are aimed at heightened awareness.
Many people are apparently unaware of just how dangerous alcohol is to health.
The fact that alcohol is a known carcinogen and causes breast, colon, mouth, rectum and a few other hideous cancers is apparently not a well-known fact in Canada.
Drinking contributes to heart disease and stroke. Past reports that it might protect against heart disease no longer stand up — drinking more than a little is a risk factor for heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.
And alcohol is implicated in dementia, sexually transmitted diseases and a whole host of other negative outcomes.
The study reports, “Disproportionately more injuries, violence and deaths result from men’s drinking,” which opens a whole subset of other health problems such as drunk driving, intimate partner violence, sexual violence and all manner of alcohol-fuelled aggressive behaviour.
The last time alcohol guidelines were laid out was 2011 and newer research made it clear it was time to issue those guidelines again.
Researchers say alcohol should carry the same information and health warnings that food labels provide.
“A direct consequence of the current project is a recommendation for Health Canada to require, through regulation, the mandatory labelling of all alcoholic beverages to list the number of standard drinks in a container, the Guidance on Alcohol and Health, health warnings and nutrition information,” the report says.
Researchers state that a cultural shift around drinking is required: “it is necessary to promote the message that it is okay not to drink alcohol.”
So, perhaps no more buck-a-beer type slogans, folks.
On the upside, any reduction in drinking alcohol is beneficial. Cutting back can start to reverse the damage from alcohol-related chronic disease.
The boundaries of safe drinking have been redrawn.
Liz Braun - TORONTO SUN - TODAY
New study offers sobering info on alcohol and health risks© Provided by Toronto Sun
When it comes to drinking alcohol, is would seem less is better.
A report from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) reveals that health risks skyrocket if you consume six or more alcoholic drinks a week — and those risks include seven types of cancer as well as heart disease and cirrhosis.
Two drinks a week (or fewer) is a low-risk undertaking.
Between three and six carries moderate risk; risk level is high, “for those who consume above six standard drinks per week, with increasingly higher levels of risk with every additional drink,” according to the report.
The risks of health harms for women increase more steeply than for men once you go above low levels (two drinks a week) of consumption.
The report states that women experience more risk of damage or disease, “such as liver disease, at lower levels of alcohol consumption than do males.
“In general, males are more likely to develop alcohol use disorders, but females are more likely to develop organ and other bodily damage from drinking alcohol,” the report says.
The new guidelines, based on global research, are aimed at heightened awareness.
Many people are apparently unaware of just how dangerous alcohol is to health.
The fact that alcohol is a known carcinogen and causes breast, colon, mouth, rectum and a few other hideous cancers is apparently not a well-known fact in Canada.
Drinking contributes to heart disease and stroke. Past reports that it might protect against heart disease no longer stand up — drinking more than a little is a risk factor for heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.
And alcohol is implicated in dementia, sexually transmitted diseases and a whole host of other negative outcomes.
The study reports, “Disproportionately more injuries, violence and deaths result from men’s drinking,” which opens a whole subset of other health problems such as drunk driving, intimate partner violence, sexual violence and all manner of alcohol-fuelled aggressive behaviour.
The last time alcohol guidelines were laid out was 2011 and newer research made it clear it was time to issue those guidelines again.
Researchers say alcohol should carry the same information and health warnings that food labels provide.
“A direct consequence of the current project is a recommendation for Health Canada to require, through regulation, the mandatory labelling of all alcoholic beverages to list the number of standard drinks in a container, the Guidance on Alcohol and Health, health warnings and nutrition information,” the report says.
Researchers state that a cultural shift around drinking is required: “it is necessary to promote the message that it is okay not to drink alcohol.”
So, perhaps no more buck-a-beer type slogans, folks.
On the upside, any reduction in drinking alcohol is beneficial. Cutting back can start to reverse the damage from alcohol-related chronic disease.
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