The hot summer has contributed to the sales of alcohol

Sales of beer, cider and soft drinks increased the most at Systembolaget in 2018. Stock Photography.picture: Vilhelm Stokstad / TT

The heat has already taken over Sweden in May and the summer record has had obvious effects for breweries.

– It was a good summer for the Swedish market, said Peter Bronsman, CEO of Kopparberg.

Kopparberg says that most of their products sold at Systembolaget have increased and that many could be attributed to weather conditions.

– Despite the fact that the summer is actually a short time. But summer weather is very important for breweries, says Bronsman.

In 2018, cider and beverage sales of Systembolaget increased by 11.9% over the previous year. Beer sales also increased, mainly imported strong beer.

Systembolaget also suspects that time has contributed to our choice to consume certain drinks at the expense of others.

– It is too early to perform the analyzes, but we can of course find that the weather has had a certain impact because these segments (beer and cider) have increased. In this way, these are not segments we have seen in the past, "says Elina Yli-Torvi, press officer at Systembolaget.

Three other things stand out for sales in 2018. For Systembolaget, customers are buying more and more non-alcoholic and organic products and many are also choosing to buy wines at higher prices.

– They are a little together because we are more consciously connected to our consumption. We are more interested than in the past and therefore we choose drinks with care in a completely different way. It's something we've clearly seen, says Elina Yli-Torvi.