What awaits the white cider market as White lightning de-listed and tax rises loom?

Heineken plans to de-list its infamous 'White lightning' cider brand, reportedly to 'reinforce its stance on responsible drinking and drive more value into the cider market'. The news is likely to be welcomed by groups and organisations who have spoken out against the damage of high-strength white ciders, as we previously discussed here.

Over recent years homeless charity Thames Reach have campaigned  against high-strength beers and ciders, prompting a recent call to the Chancellor from Labour MP Martin Linton to increase the tax on such drinks. According to the Morning Advertiser, Linton told MPs that these “extraordinarily powerful and destructive drinks” are the “most dangerous addictive drug”, based on information from Thames Reach. He also stated:

“It is a fact that the great majority of sales of super-strength lager and cider are to alcohol-dependent people who are often vulnerable and homeless,” said Linton, during a private members debate in Parliament. “For them, the defining attraction is not the taste, but the price per unit of alcohol. Super-strength affects not only health, but behaviour.” He also pointed out that that a 500ml can of super-strength lager contained 4.5 units - more than the daily recommended guidelines for men.

However there have been objections to further tax rises on ciders, which currently have a lower tax rate. This seems to raise an issue of lack of tax differential between more 'traditional cider' (i.e made with apples), and the high-strength 'white ciders' (reported as having nothing to do with apples - Wikipedia reports it as made from 'fermented corn syrup'). According to Cider UK blog, 'the duty on a mass produced white cider at 7.5% is currently only around a quarter of that on beer of a weaker strength'. They ask 'What are the implications for high quality, 100% juice, craft ciders? At present these have the same alcohol duty advantage as the mass produced industrial imposters'. See here for a summary of alcohol duty rates.

Nonetheless duty on alcohol will still rise (or not fall when VAT goes up, as explained here) and the Conservatives have pledged targeted tax hikes at high-strength beers and ciders. However organisations such as Alcohol Concern, whilst welcoming increased taxes on such high-strength drinks, have urged that this will not stop supermarkets continuing to sell alcohol below cost price as a 'loss leader', instead advocating a minimum price approach.

There is some further interesting history to White Lightning; in 2004 producers stopped selling the special value 3 litre bottles which caused a dramatic 70% drop in sales, followed by rises in sales of the remaining own brand versions. See the 'Cheap Strong Ciders' section on the Wikipedia Cider page for more.

Comments

[James Morris]

May I ask why Glen? There is some discussion about the serious issue of how a minimum price would affect those dependent on such cheap drinks. Some suggest it will result in increased shoplifting or seeking anyhting they can get hold of, others suggest it may encourage them to reduce harmful intake. Im guessing both could apply depending upon the individual.

[Glen raywood]

I'm gutted