The latest report from IWSR (International Wine & Spirit Research) presents a mixed picture of the global spirits market. It shows that consumption grew by 1.6% last year to 3.07bn nine-litre cases — but that’s a marked slowdown on 2011 when the volumes grew by 6.5%. The report suggests that the only reason there was any growth was strong demand from emerging economies.
Sales of spirits in the European Markets Decline
This is not necessarily good news for Scotch. The point is that seven of the top ten growth markets are in the Asia-Pacific region — but most of this increased consumption is for local spirits. China and India are the top growth markets rising by 24.4m and 11.1m cases respectively. China alone now accounts for 38% of global spirits consumption, and India 9.8%. As evidence of support for locally produced alcohol, the report lists the best sellers. The fiery Chinese spirit, Baijiu, was top of the list, followed by locally produced brandies. Shochu/soju was the top selling spirit in South Korea and Japan, while home-produced whisky (otherwise known as Indian Made Foreign Liquor) was proved popular on the Sub-Continent.
By contrast to this strong growth, the traditional, more mature markets in Europe – such as France, Spain, Germany and Italy – are amongst the largest-declining markets, mainly as a result of tax increases and the struggling economies in the eurozone. The European spirits market fell by 2.5m cases in 2011 and a further 6.5m cases in 2012 — that’s equivalent to almost the entire consumption of spirits in the Czech Republic.
The report concludes that, despite a slowdown in the economic growth of some Asian markets, wealth there is still rising and a new generation of consumers is emerging. It points out that, while the IMF may have cut its growth rate forecast for China and although the spirits market has slowed, it is still experiencing strong growth, particularly compared with Western markets.