Beer Held 59.7% of New Zealand’s Alcohol Market in 2026

Beer kept its dominant position in New Zealand’s alcohol market in the year ended June 2026, accounting for 59.7% of the alcohol available for consumption, while also generating NZD452.1 million in excise tax and import duty, according to Statistics New Zealand data and customs figures cited this week by the Brewers Association of New Zealand.

The new figures show beer’s share of the market was almost unchanged from 59.8% in 2020, a decline of 0.1 percentage points over six years. The data measure alcohol available for consumption in terms of pure alcohol, not beer volumes sold in stores or bars and restaurants. That means a stable share in a shrinking alcohol market does not, by itself, prove that beer volumes were flat.

Stats NZ said total per capita alcohol consumption fell to 6.98 liters of pure alcohol in the year ended June 2026, the lowest level on record. Within that smaller market, beer remained by far the largest category. Wine’s share fell to 19.9% from 23.3% in 2020, while spirits made up the difference.

The tax figures add another measure of beer’s role in the market. Beer contributed 36.3% of the NZD1.246 billion collected by the government in alcohol excise and import duty in the 2025/26 fiscal year, according to customs data obtained by the brewers’ association. That amounted to NZD452.1 million tied specifically to beer.

About 85% of that beer-related tax revenue came from beer brewed in New Zealand, the association said. Applied to the reported total, that is roughly NZD384 million from domestic production and about NZD68 million from imported beer. The group said that makes beer unusually important not only as a source of tax revenue, but also as a local manufacturing product compared with other alcohol categories.

The tax share was lower than beer’s market share because excise is linked to alcohol content, and beer generally has less alcohol than wine and spirits. The customs figures cited by the association showed the reverse pattern for spirits, where 59% of excise revenue came from imported product. Wine was described as being roughly two-thirds domestic.

Dylan Firth, executive director of the Brewers Association of New Zealand, said the latest numbers show two trends at once: New Zealanders are drinking less overall, but beer has held its position better than other categories. He also pointed to the local production base behind most beer tax revenue.

The figures come at a time of broader pressure across the alcohol market. Total alcohol excise and import duty collected by the government has fallen for three consecutive years, dropping from NZD1.3015 billion in 2022/23 to NZD1.2460 billion in 2025/26, according to the brewers’ association’s reading of customs data. That decline came even as annual indexation pushed alcohol excise rates up by more than 13% over the same period.

That combination suggests a market under strain, with lower overall consumption offsetting higher tax rates. The beer industry argues that the pressure is being felt especially in hospitality, where much of the category’s product is sold.

The association cited recent data from credit reporting agency Centrix showing that 422 hospitality companies entered liquidation over the past year, up 42% from the previous year, while nearly 2,900 hospitality businesses ceased trading, an increase of almost 40%. According to Centrix, hospitality’s insolvency rate is now 3.3 times the average for New Zealand businesses.

Those business failures matter for brewers because pubs, bars and restaurants remain key outlets for beer. Industry representatives say that link helps explain why they are closely watching the government’s expected Hospitality Review by the Ministry for Regulation.

The latest beer data were published by Supermarket News on September 1, drawing on previously released Stats NZ availability figures and customs information obtained by the Brewers Association of New Zealand. The market share measure refers to alcohol available for consumption in New Zealand during the year ended June 2026 and is expressed in pure alcohol terms. It does not provide separate figures for liters of beer sold or for the monetary value of beer sales.

That distinction is important in interpreting the results. Beer’s 59.7% share shows that it remained the leading alcohol category in New Zealand even as the overall market contracted. But because the total amount of alcohol available for consumption fell, the steady share does not necessarily mean brewers sold the same amount of product as in earlier years.

Even so, the figures show beer remains central to New Zealand’s alcohol market and public finances. It held nearly three-fifths of alcohol availability, provided more than one-third of alcohol excise and import duty revenue, and did so mainly through domestic production rather than imports.