TALLINN - Estonians could soon be taking Finnish-style alcohol shopping trips to Latvia as the difference in alcohol prices between Baltic countries increases. According to a recent survey carried out by the Estonian Institute of Economic Research, the cost of alcohol in Latvia and Lithuania is dropping below Estonian prices.
Even liquor stores in Berlin now sell vodka for 15 percent less than in Tallinn, the survey found.
The survey, which was carried out in September 2006, compared the most popular local vodka brands sold in stores in nine EU capitals.
It showed that a bottle of vodka, 0.7 to 0.75 liters and 38-40 proof, cost an average of 87.7 kroons (5.6 euros) in Tallinn, but only 75.73 kroons (4.84 euros) in Berlin.
"It is surprising, especially if you compare salaries. We earn four times less than people in Berlin, so it shouldn't be that vodka is cheaper there," said Pille Liivaauk, EIER agricultural research head. "Even Latvia and Lithuania are cheaper. Everybody knows that Finnish people take alcohol shopping trips to Tallinn. Perhaps Latvia could become a destination for Estonian people."
The cost of vodka was found to be between 10 and 37 percent lower in Vilnius and Riga than in Tallinn.
However, Tallinn still remains cheaper than its Nordic neighbors. A bottle of vodka costs up to four times as much in Stockholm.
But Estonian consumers aren't happy with the situation 's they feel alcohol is becoming too cheap.
EIER researchers also asked consumers about their opinions of the government's alcohol management policy, and found most people wanted more regulations.
"People want the government's alcohol policy to be strengthened so that it's not so liberal," Liivaauk said.
"People feel we drink too much and spend too much on alcohol. We have too many accidents, we spend too much money on hospitals because of it, we have family problems and social problems."
"Alcohol is still relatively cheap, and the price hasn't increased with inflation. Today, we can buy two times as much alcohol from our monthly salary as ten years ago."
The survey also looked at the internal strength of the alcohol production industry. It found Estonia's producers to be faring well 's almost 90 percent of all liquor sold in shops is locally made.
