Romanians Drink Less Spirits Because Of The Recession

Dascalu said the consumption of spirits was at 8.5 liters per capita in 2008, decreased to 6 liters per capita in 2009 and estimates for this year indicate a decrease to 5 liters per capita.

"For this year, we estimate a consumption of 90-100 million liters, down 15-20% compared to last year, at some EUR500 million. In 2009 we saw a decrease of over 25% in consumption," said Dascalu.

He added prices for spirits increased 5-7% this year, as the Romanian leu depreciated against the euro.

"Because of the crisis, people have switched to making their own spirits and next year will be just as bad because the spirits market evolves at the same rate as the general economy," Dascalu said.

He added dozens of small and medium-sized enterprises in the industry have gone out of business this year, while a large number of medium and large companies have reduced their working capacities to half, which left over 7,000 people in the industry jobless.

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