In the first quarter of the year, excise duty import products such as beer and fuel saw an increase in imports per ton, while imported coffee is decreasing. The high demand of these products seems to be driven by increased tourism in the country.

Albanians consume more beer than coffee. If on the one hand the doubt whether it is Albanians or the many foreign tourists who have fueled this consumption trend remains a speculation, the import figures given by INSTAT on the other hand testify to a double-digit increase in the import of beer in the first three months of the year.

The data show that beer imports increased in the first quarter by about 19%. A total of 9,600 tons of beer were imported, up from 8,100 in the same period last year. In recent years, beer imports have grown rapidly, occupying a significant share of the market.

Foreign beers that are sold in Albanian market have damaged the domestic production of local beer artisans. Imported beers now account for 60% of the market, from 44% a decade ago.

On the other hand, imported coffee has decreased. In the first three months of the year, 1555 tons of coffee were imported from 1835 tons in the same period of 2023. Imports of coffee and cigarettes have large monthly fluctuations. The latter have also recorded an increase, where the import of cigarettes increased by about 2.3%.

It seems that the import products of excise goods continued to grow at high rates this beginning of the year. They have followed the trend of importing other categories such as food and fuel. In the first three months of the year, food imports increased by 22%, while fuel increased by 7.1%.

Official data from the Ministry of Finance show that during the January-March period of this year, 137,541 tons of fuel were imported from 128,319 tons last year. This was the highest level of imports since the same period in 2021.

In general, the increased tourism that has resulted in Albania has stimulated a high demand for consumer goods and movement, a demand that cannot be met by the domestic supply of domestic production.