Sake, Shochu & Taxes

The excise tax on shochu is more than three times the price of a good quality shochu from Japan.

So you want to buy sake in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide or anywhere in Australia but it's expensive. Yes. A lot of people tell us from time to time that they can't understand why sake and shochu are so expensive in Australia.

It's the tax mainly. 

To be sure, it costs money to ship sake it from Japan to the port, then pack it at the port, ship it thousands of kilometres from Japan to Australia, unload it from the port and transport from the port to the warehouse (these last two trips cost almost as much as Japan to Australia). And of course the lorry driver, unpackers, stocktakers etc wages are double to triple their Japanese counterparts so the price increases there also. 

But it's mainly the tax. Triple the price sometimes. 

By the time even WET tax and gst which are levied at late stages of the pricing 'journey' ultimately raise the price by around 100%. The wholesaler isn't making that much.

Now we are not ones to complain about the lifestyle and standard of living in Australia. We like it here and don't want to live anywhere else.

But if when you want to buy sake in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide or anywhere in Australia, you wonder why is it do expensive please remember this. Yes, it is cheaper in Japan, but the wages and lifestyle in Australia are very good too so maybe it's better to buy sake in Australia from shops rather than live in Japan and get cheaper sake but work longer hours. 

Just saying ...