Cider rise upsets applecart

Manufacturers warn the 10p (21c) increase in the cost of a pint could choke off the recovery in sales prompted by cider's rehabilitation from low-budget choice to middle-class tipple.

"When Gordon Brown and then Alistair Darling left us alone for a few years, our investment and innovation doubled the value of the cider market and doubled the contribution we made to government," said Henry Chevallier Guild, chairman of the National Association of Cider Makers. "All that might now be at risk."

As a result of the Budget, cider duty will rise by 13 per cent, but will still be much less than that applied to beer, which will rise from 46 to 50 per cent.

Sales doubled between 2004 and 2008 to £2.2 billion and rose by 7 per cent last year.

- INDEPENDENT