IWSR says DF&TR wines and spirits all declined
By Doug Newhouse |
The travel retail business experienced a -3.3% decline in spirit sales to 21.8m cases in 2015, followed by a -2.9% fall in wine to 7.5m – just as mixed drinks declined by -11.4% to fall below 250,000 cases, according to International Wine & Spirit Record (IWSR).
However, these results contrasted strongly with IWSR’s results for global markets, where growth of premium alcohol showed good strength across all categories, raising questions about the DF&TR business.
According to IWSR the global premium-and-above spirits market gained 6.7m nine-litre cases in 2015 versus 2014, a 5% uplift according to its recently released IWSR 2016 database.
IWSR said: “Total spirits grew 0.5% globally in 2015 versus 2014, which equated to an additional 14.1m cases. However, excluding growth from national spirits (+22.3m cases, +1.6%), the market shrank by 8.2m cases overall (-0.5%), with significant declines from vodka (-8.6m, -1.8%), brandy (-7.3m, -3.7%) and flavoured spirits (-4.3m, -2.7%). Whisk(e)y (+11.4m, +3.0%), gin and genever (+1.16m, +2.2%) and tequila (+1.15m, +4.2%) all grew.” [National spirits referred to above were dominated by baijiu and soju-Ed].
The drinks research house continued: “The largest-growth spirits categories in the premium segment were whisk(e)y, gin, vodka, rum and tequila. For whisk(e)y, the premium-and-above category added 3.9m cases between 2014 and 2015 (+7.3%).
SCOTCH WHISKY: ‘VALUE VERSUS PREMIUM’
“In comparison, standard whisk(e)y grew by 2.5m cases (+3.1%). Value whisk(e)y added 5.9m cases (+2.6%), but if you exclude India – the world’s largest whisk(e)y market – value whisk(e)y declined by 2.3m cases.
“Premium whiskies grew strongest in the US (+2.5m, +14.6%), but also saw good growth in France (+169k, +11.0%), the UK (+136k, +7.6%), Canada (+130k, +8.5%) and Mexico (+126k, +10.0%).”
Not surprisingly, IWSR also noted that the premium market for North American whiskies is booming, with total US whiskey up 1.9m cases (+4.8%) in 2015 (+1.6m case growth in the premium segment, +8.5%), total Canadian up 2.1m cases (+8.6% standard and +1.5m in the premium segment, +26.2%).
The IWSR report adds that Scotch whisky declined by -0.2% globally in 2015 (-166k); growth of the standard-and-above market fell just short of the of the decline in the value segment; and the largest growth came from the super-premium (+193k, +4.1%) and premium (+119k, +0.6%) segments.
WHITE SPIRITS DRIVERS…
Meanwhile, IWSR says that the US market drove the 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 the ever-growing range of ‘craft gins’ has continued.
IWSR said: “The top markets for super-premium spirits growth are the US (+435k, +3.3%), UK (+163k, +19.0%), Mexico (+141,000, +23.1%), Duty Free (+93.1m, +3.7%) and France (+64,000, 14.5%).
“The top growth markets for premium spirits growth are the US (+3.9m, +8.6%), UK (+422,000, +11.6%), Canada (+253,000, +8.2%), France (+250,000, +10.7%) and Australia (+176,000, +11.0%).”
PREMIUM WINE RISING…
The report goes on to say that the premium segment is not only doing well for spirits, since premium still light wine also saw the largest growth of any category, while premium sparkling wine recorded the third-largest growth behind premium whisk(e)y.
Total wine consumption overall declined by -3.5m cases (-0.1%), whereas the premium-and-above market gained 13.8m cases in 2015 (+4.7%). IWSR added that premium still light wine contributed 11.9m cases to this growth (+5.3%).
At the same time, the US market posted growth of 4.8m cases (+8.7%) in the premium still light wine market and China added 4.1m cases (+35.5%). IWSR adds that even the mature UK market increased premium still light wine sales by more than 600,000 cases (+2.8%).
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