CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — When it comes to spending bucks on booze, beer wins hands down in Canada.

Statistics Canada says that as usual, beer was by far the most popular beverage in terms of dollar value, capturing 50.7 per cent of sales compared with 24.7 per cent for spirits and 24.6 per cent for wine.

In a report on sales for the fiscal year ending March 31 last year, the agency says beer and liquor stores and agencies sold more than $16.1 billion worth of the beverages, up 4.9 per cent from the year before.

But that rate of growth was slower than the six per cent increase during the previous fiscal year.

And although Canadian products still dominated, imported beer gained ground, capturing 11 per cent of the market, up from three per cent a decade earlier.

The agency says when it came to wine, red was by far the preferred choice, capturing 49 per cent of the volume of sales, white 36 per cent and unidentified wine 15 per cent.

"Revenue from the sale of alcoholic beverages plus the net income realized by provincial and territorial liquor authorities hit $4.3 billion in 2003-04, up 7.2 per cent from the previous year ... the largest year-over-year increase in the last 20 years," Statistics Canada says.

Canadians bought 86.3 litres of beer, 13.3 litres of wine and 7.6 litres of spirits during the year, with total per capita purchases of alcoholic beverages amounting to $623.60, the agency said.

"Consumers in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador led the pack, purchasing just over 115 litres of alcoholic beverages per capita. In contrast, those in Saskatchewan purchased only 94.4 litres, lowest of all."

By volume, per capita purchases of beer were highest in Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec, and lowest in British Columbia.

"Newfoundlanders also bought the highest per capita volumes in spirits. Quebecers led the way with purchases of wine.

"Among spirits, rum was still most popular in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. Whisky was the preferred choice for consumers from Ontario to British Columbia."