When mild alcoholic beverages with a maximum strength of eight percent appeared on the shelves of thousands of grocery stores two years ago, many feared that alcohol consumption in Finland would start rising again after years of decline.
Grocery stores were previoulsy only allowed to sell drinks containing up to 5.5 percent alcohol. Stronger beverages could only be bought from the state monopoly Alko. The legal reform meant that eight-percent wines, mixed drinks and other fermented beverages became widely available in supermarkets.
At the time, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) warned that even a small increase in alcohol availability had previously pushed up consumption.
Now, however, it appears that the arrival of stronger drinks in grocery stores did not have the feared effect.
"Wine accounts for four percent of sales, and mixed drinks bring the share to around five percent. The increase has been very modest," said Tuula Loikkanen, who heads the Finnish Grocery Trade Association.
Beer rules, drinking down
Loikkanen said beer still overwhelmingly dominates supermarket alcohol sales, with consumers continuing to prefer milder beverages.
"We Finns are still very much a medium-strength beer nation," she summed up.
Fresh retail sales figures from the Finnish Supervisory Agency show that Finns still buy most of their wine from Alko. Five out of every six bottles continue to come from the state alcohol monopoly.
Alcohol consumption in Finland has steadily declined for more than 15 years, and last year was no exception, despite the broader selection of alcoholic beverages available in grocery stores.
Overall alcohol sales fell by 2.7 percent in 2025 compared with the previous year.
Red wine sales dropped by nearly 10 percent, cider by more than five percent and white wine by more than four percent. Most other beverage categories also recorded declining sales.
