Alcohol available for consumption in Australia

Data sources

The Apparent Consumption of Alcohol collection considers spirits being made available from two sources:

• Domestically produced spirits that are intended to be sold in Australia.
• Internationally produced spirits that are imported into Australia.
  • Note that this excludes spirits that are imported into Australia only to be exported to another country.

Both of these sources use estimates from different data sources to calculate the total amount of spirits being made available to people living in Australia in each financial year.

No adjustments are made for the home-production of spirits, as these are assumed to make up a very small portion of the total spirits consumed in Australia.

Domestically produced spirits

All spirits that are produced with the intention of being sold in Australia attract an excise, according to the total volume of alcohol in the spirits. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is responsible for collecting this information and publishes excise data on data.gov.au (ATO 2024).

Unlike beer, the entire volume of alcohol attracts excise. This means that no additional data sources are required, and the total volume of alcohol can be calculated directly from the total amount of excise paid.

Note that it is assumed that all spirits produced in a given financial year are made available in that financial year. Everything that attracts spirits-based excise is grouped into the spirits category, so other beverages that meet this excise definition (for example some seltzers) are defined as spirits for the purposes of the Apparent Consumption of Alcohol collection.

Imported spirits

Spirits that are imported into Australia attract customs duty at the same rates as the excise duty on domestically produced spirits. The total imported volume of alcohol in various spirits categories is recorded by the Department of Home Affairs. Data used in imported spirits availability were obtained from a customised report (ABS 2024). For more information on specific import clearance items, see ABS (2018) appendix 6.2.

Note that it is assumed that all spirits imported into Australia in a given financial year are made available in that financial year. Everything that attracts spirits customs duties is grouped into the spirits category, so other beverages that meet this definition (for example some seltzers) are defined as spirits for the purposes of the Apparent Consumption of Alcohol collection.

Spirits stored in bonded warehouses and subsequently exported are excluded from the collection. Spirits that are imported and used to produce new spirits-based beverages may pay domestic production excise instead of imported spirits excise and are excluded from imports data.

Methodological considerations

No changes to the calculation methods for spirits available for consumption were made for this release of the Apparent Consumption of Alcohol collection.