The Systembolaget is Sweden’s government-owned alcohol monopoly, meaning it is the only company that can sell alcohol to the public. The Systembolaget has its own Sustainability Team.

Organic wine: ‘In 2013, Systembolaget [the state alcohol monopoly in Sweden] announced their goal to have 10% of their assortment (including beer, spirits and others) certified as organic by 2020. Ulf Sjödin, head of category management at Systembolaget, explained that they constantly poll their consumers and analyse sales patterns. If a new trend becomes apparent, as happened with bag-in-box packaging, the category managers try to make space in the shelves for it. They are well aware of the influence this can have on consumers. Since there is only a limited amount of space on Systembolaget’s shelves, giving a spot to a less commercial wine will expose it to a lot of people. In the case of organic wines, he explained, that extra exposure was given for a particular reason: their own market research discovered that a sizeable number of people were looking for organic products, but were not aware that Systembolaget already had them in their assortment. Another measure was a new internal product evaluation system. According to one of Germany’s major wine producers, it became easier for organic listings to stay on the shelf, because they are granted more time to prove themselves compared to conventional products. Organic wines were granted a longer guaranteed distribution time, whereas conventional wines had to prove themselves in less time,’ (‘A look at sustainable Sweden’ by Dr Gergely Szolnoki and Johannes Borchert. This article is a summary of The Organic Wine Boom on the Swedish Wine Market, a qualitative study by the authors. It first appeared in Meininger’s Wine Business International, issue 5, 2016, along with data tables.)

EU Membership

‘When Sweden joined the EU in 1995, the government gave up its monopoly over the production and distribution of alcohol. It also reluctantly agreed to a gradual repeal by 2004 of the restrictions on imports by travellers. “Tourist” imports are already undermining Systembolaget’s retail monopoly. Students and pensioners in southern Sweden make a tidy living by driving back and forth from Germany and Denmark with boots full of lower-taxed booze. More than 20% of all alcohol consumed in Sweden is imported in this way, a flow that is expected to swell further when the remaining restrictions are phased out. Prices at the top of Systembolaget’s product range are already competitive. As one of the world’s largest buyers, it has long been able to negotiate large bulk discounts, especially on fine wines—so much so that visiting tourists from France often hunt for vintage bargains. Locals suggest that recent investigations of Systembolaget’s procurement practices by the European Commission were motivated by a desire to stop it driving such hard bargains with French and Spanish wine producers,’ (‘Loosening up’, The Economist Aug 30th 2001).

See also: KRAV.