World: Premium spirits market shows growth while global beer consumption declines last year

Growth in the premium spirits market indicates a rise in preference for quality over quantity, according to the IWSR 2016 database.

Total spirits grew 0.5% globally in 2015 versus 2014, which equated to an additional 14.1 mln cases. However, excluding growth from national spirits, dominated by baijiu and soju, the market shrank by 8.2 mln cases overall (-0.5%), with significant declines from vodka (-8.6 mln, -1.8%), brandy (-7.3 mln, -3.7%) and flavoured spirits (-4.3 mln, -2.7%).

Premium sprits grew by 6.7 mln nine-litre cases in 2015 versus 2014, a 5% uplift, with the largest-growth categories in the premium segment being whisky, gin, vodka, rum and tequila.

For whisky, the premium-and-above category added 3.9 mln cases between 2014 and 2015 (+7.3%). In comparison, standard whisky grew by 2.5 mln cases (+3.1%). Premium whiskies grew strongest in the US (+2.5 mln, +14.6%), but also saw good growth in France (+169 thousand, +11.0%), the UK (+136 thousand, +7.6%), Canada (+130 thousand, +8.5%) and Mexico (+126 thousand, +10.0%).

The US market is driving growth of premium vodka, rum and tequila, while the UK is the key growth market for premium gin, where a revival of the gin and tonic trend and a growing range of craft gins continues to enter the market.

The top markets for super-premium spirits growth are the US (+3.3%), UK (+19.0%), Mexico (+23.1%), Duty Free (+3.7%) and France (+14.5%). In the premium spirits segment the top growth markets are the US (+8.6%), UK (+11.6%), Canada (+8.2%), France (+10.7%) and Australia (+11.0%).

The popularity of premium alcohol is not limited to spirits; premium still light wine saw the largest growth of any category and premium sparkling wine has the third-largest growth behind premium whisky. Total wine consumption overall declined by -3.5 mln cases (-0.1%), whereas the premium-and-above market gained 13.8 mln cases in 2015 (+4.7%). Premium still light wine contributed 11.9 mln cases to this growth (+5.3%), with the strongest growth recorded in the US (4.8 mln cases, +8.7%) and China (4.1 mln cases, +35.5%).

In 2015 global beer consumption declined by -0.6%, following a levelling off of volumes in 2014, but cider continued its strong upward trend as new markets were established and innovation and new flavours helped drive growth of 3.1%. The mixed drinks category also remains in growth, adding 1 mln cases in 2015 (+0.3%), IWSR said.

17 June, 2016