THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It may be a case of surge in special occasion drinking or a cosy quiet-night-in with your family, but the wine selling is poised to set a new record in the state in this Christmas season.
The average monthly sales in 2015-16 have already showed a massive increase compared to previous fiscals.
“Wine sales will set a record during this Christmas. Sales have already shot up by a large margin,” said Johnson Edayaranmula, director, Alcohol and Drug Information Centre-India.
“In 2013, the average monthly sales stood at 52,989 litres. In 2014-15 it averaged 54,276 litres a month.
But during April-October in the current financial year, the average monthly sales have shot up to 1.44 lakh litres,” he said.
December is the most fizzy month then. In 2013, there was 60 per cent increase in wine sales during December compared to November that year.
Bevco figures showed that there was a 104% sales increase during December 2014 compared to November that year.
“We haven’t set any projections as such for wine sales this year, but normally it goes up during Christmas season compared to the rest of the year,” Jeevan Babu K, Managing Director, Bevco, said.
The Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco) outlets usually see 50 per cent spur in sales during the Christmas season.
But the parlour rush has become a 365-day affair after the shutdown of bars in the state, starting March 31, 2014.
A total of 712 bars were shut since March 2014, and 670 of them had transformed into beer and wine parlours, according to statistics submitted in the State Assembly.