Rakı bottles go small as tax on alcohol ups

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

The higher tax on rakı, the aniseed-based alcoholic drink, makes consumers prefer smaller bottles.

Consumers are increasingly choosing to drink from small er bottles of rakı instead of traditional large ones, as the rising special consumption taxes on the alcoholic drink have increased its price.

Large 70 cl bottles of rakı used to be top of the market, but smaller 35 cl bottles have recently taken over, mainly due to rising alcohol prices.

The price of rakı, known as the Turks’ national drink, has increased to the level of imported alcoholic drinks because of taxes, according to Tansel Turdağ, the General Manager of Antalya Alcoholic Drinks.
Turdağ said his organization was contacting rakı producing firms in order to test reactions to introducing smaller bottles to the market, adding that consumers were increasingly preferring smaller bottles to bigger ones.

Between 1999 and 2011, Turkey’s rakı consumption fell 50 percent in the local market, decreasing from 80 million liters to 46 million liters.