Alcohol sales in 2012 at Iceland’s state-owned liquor store Vínbúðin are up for the first time since the economic crisis in 2008. Sales, which totaled 18.5 million liters, increased by 0.54 percent compared to 2011 but were still 9 percent lower than in 2008.
Photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.
Sales for the month of December were however down by 2.2 percent on the previous year’s figures, Morgunblaðið reports.
Despite an overall drop in December sales, liquor stores were busy in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve. A total of 513,000 liters of alcohol was sold from December 27 to 31, which is 2 percent more than during the same period in 2011.
As reported earlier, sales of Icelandic beer have increased substantially in the past year. Eight out of the ten highest-selling beers in Iceland are produced domestically with Icelandic beer having proven popular with both Icelanders and foreign visitors.
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ZR
