Big increase in alcohol sales

Faroese alcohol monopoly Rúsdrekkasøla landsins (commonly known as ‘Rúsan’) last year enjoyed its highest revenues since it opened in 1992.

Last year’s DKK 145.7 million in revenues is an increase of DKK 4.2 million on 2019 and an increase of DKK 10 million on 2018.

According to Rúsan’s 2020 annual report, the record-high sales are primarily due to economic prosperity and a growing population.

Changing drinking habits

There has been a notable change in Faroese drinking habits in the past three decades, with sales of strong spirits declining and sales of wine and beer seeing a steady increase.

In 1992, the average alcohol content was 20.6 percent. Last year it was 9.8 percent.

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The total alcohol per capita consumption (APC) is measured as the total litres of pure alcohol consumed per person aged 15 and above per year.

In 1992, the Faroese APC figure was 8.8 litres. In 2020, it had gone down to 6.5 litres.

These figures do not include tax-free sales. In 2019, tax-free alcohol sales were 1.6 litres per person, and in 2020, it was 0.9 litres.

Increase in tax-free alcohol sales

Tax-free alcohol sales have gone up by more than 80 percent over the past decade.

In comparison, sales in Rúsan have only gone up by 12 percent over the same period.

Last year, however, saw a big drop in tax-free alcohol sales due to the Covid pandemic.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

More Faroese News in English.