The market comprises beers, wines, spirits, cider and flavoured alcoholic beverages (FABs). Although in value terms share of these sectors is quite evenly spread, beer dominates volume sales. The value growth is against a strong performance in the previous year when the millennium drove sales. In both years the key driver has been the FABs sector, which this year is up 58%. Within this the brand that has done especially well is Smirnoff Ice with 100% value growth. Bacardi Breezer remains the category leader and continues to add new flavours to its range. However, it is not growing as fast as the total FABs sector. The launch of Archers Aqua this year has also further established the sector. Other categories showing strong growth are cider (25%), white wine (23%), lager (16%) and red wine (15%). The only sector in decline is champagne and sparkling wine and this is because consumers bought champagne for millennium celebrations and did not repeat the purchase in the last Christmas/New Year period. Wine growth is driven by the New World as consumers relate to wine brands better than to wines by region. Traditional wine producing regions have been slow to react and New World brands show the strongest growth. The increasing number of multipacks on the market and continual promotions running in most retailers has helped to drive lager growth. Stella Artois has introduced various formats (most recently larger bottles) onto the market and in the last two years has been the number one alcohol brand. Tesco is the leading retailer in value and volume terms, overtrading in wine relative to total alcohol. Sainsbury's share of wine is also high relative to total alcohol. Asda and Morrisons concentrate mainly on beer and long drinks. {{FOCUS SPECIALS }}

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