Pubs quicker to boost prices

Hotels' price increases for beer have outstripped those in the supermarket. Photo / Greg Bowker

Pub beer prices have increased more quickly than supermarket beer prices over the past 10 years, an Otago University study into the affordability of alcohol shows.

The study, published yesterday in the New Zealand Medical Journal, also says alcohol has become more affordable in the past decade.

It calls for Government measures to increase prices to reduce abuse.

A price comparison in the study, covering the past decade, finds the average price for a dozen bottles of beer from a pub rose 56.6 per cent, from $3.16 to $4.95 - 2.96 times faster than the price of a dozen bottles of beer from a supermarket.

It also shows milk prices outstripped supermarket beer prices by more than 50 per cent, rising from $2.64 to $3.41 for two litres.

The price of bottled water also rose 80 per cent more quickly than supermarket beers during a shorter time period when figures were available, from 2006 to 2010.

An author of the study, Associate Professor Nick Wilson, said the varying increases indicated complex market forces, but they underlined that cheap liquor was available for young binge drinkers.

"From a public health perspective, the biggest concern is bulk discounted liquor that young people are tanking up on before they go out," he said. "They shop around to get the lowest price."

He criticised the Government's decision to ask retailers to volunteer pricing data for a year before deciding whether to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol.

"If an official monitored prices for five weeks they would have a very good set of data," he said.

"Is it just a delaying tactic? I thought that was very odd."

Alcohol Action Group spokesman Professor Doug Sellman, from the National Addiction Centre, said supermarket monopolies kept prices down to get people through the door.

But Food and Grocery Council chief executive Katherine Rich said supermarket prices were at a competitive market level.

"They're meaningless comparisons, alcohol versus water versus milk," she said.

Since beer became available in supermarkets in 1999, consumption had gone down, she said.

A minimum pricing scheme would be profitable for supermarkets and alcohol manufacturers, and most people were not driven by price in choosing their wines and beers.

"But it's a very complex kind of solution to implement," Ms Rich said.

Prices at supermarkets were cheaper because customers were not paying for the environment and service of a pub, she said.

"What the industry wants is common sense, not these extreme views."

Professor Wilson said he was not advocating use of bottled water in his study, which showed a standard drink can cost less than water.

"It's got no value whatsoever. In fact, it's an environmental problem, and some studies have found they have lower microbiology than tap water. It's just a comparison."