White Rum replaces Champagne in average shopping basket

The Office of National Statistics has replaced Champagne with White Rum in it's latest shopping basket. The basket is a compilation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Retail Prices Index (RPI) and is reviewed each year to reflect changes in buyer habits.

White rum has been added to the basket to “diversify the range of spirits covered,” whereas, it was felt, on-trade sales of Champagne could be removed, “without any significant loss of precision in estimates of price changes overall”.

Other new “in” items include: blueberries, men’s t-shirts, salami and prosciutto and e-books.“Out” items include: round lettuces (in favour of pre-packaged salads) and basin taps.

Alcohol overall as part of the average basket has decreased from 76 parts per 1,000 in RPI in 1987 to 61 parts in 2013. But this is up from last years which was 56 parts.