Discus review of US spirits industry

08 February, 2013

 – Super Premium up 10.0% to 6.3m, revenue up 9.5% to $1.3bn.

New products – 171 new products in 2012: 122 flavoured. New flavored products accounted for nearly 1m cases

Bourbon & Tennessee Whiskey

The largest whiskey category 16.9M cases, $2.2B revenue – volume up 5.2%, revenue up 7.3%, 46 new bourbons/three flavoured whiskeys. Recent growth shows consumer’s willingness to experiment

Performance by price segment:

–Value, volume up 2.9% to 2.8m, revenue up 4.8% to $157m

– Premium, volume up 7.5% to 5m, revenue up 9.4% to $499m

– High End, volume up 3.8% to 8.1m, revenue up 5.7% to $1.3bn

 – Super Premium, volume up 12.4% to 1m, revenue up 14.4% to $222m.

Category growth has spurred interest in other American Whiskeys – Rye volume up 50%+ to 275,000 (22 new Ryes). There are several white whiskeys now on market

Scotch & Irish whiskey

Single malt Scotch continues rapid growth – concentrated in High End and Super Premium – Volume up 13.0% to 1.6m, revenue up 16.4% to $515m – 53 new product introductions.

Blended Scotch strong growth in High End & Super Premium – Volume -0.4% to 7.6m, but revenue up 3.9% to $1.3bn

Irish whiskey is the fastest-growing category – Volume up 22.5% to 2.2m, revenue up 23.7% to $415m

Cordials

The original flavored category. Volume up 4.7% to 21.2m, revenue up 3.1% to $2.5bn.

Performance by price segments:

– Value, volume up 9.8% to 8.1m, revenue up 9.8% to $481m

– Premium, volume 0.4% to 11.3m, revenue -0.6 to $1.6bn

– High End, volume up 10.7% to 1.8m, revenue up 10.9% to $421m

– Super Premium, volume up double digits, less than 100,000 cases

163 new products introduced, 143 flavoured

Tequila

Tequila volume grew 2.9% to 12.3m cases. Tequila revenue up 4.6% to $1.9bn

Performance by price segments:

– Value, volume up 1.8% to 2.9m, revenue up 1.8% to $221m

– Premium, volume 1.0% to 6.4m, revenue flat $749m

– High End, volume up 7.0% to 1.1m, revenue up 6.4% to $205m

– Super Premium volume up 9.1% to 1.9m, revenue up 10.3% to $707m.

There were 40 new tequilas introduced.

Rum & gin

Rum volume up 1.5% to 25.5m, revenue up 1.9% to $2.3bn – rum is the second largest product category after vodka – Strong growth in Value, volume up 3.3%

– Super Premium up 8.1%, but small segment;

– 63 new rums, 22 flavoured gin volume up 1.5% to 10.7m, revenue up 2.7% to $873m;

The category volume is concentrated in the Value segment, 7.4m

– Growth driven by Premium segment, 19.2%;

– 36 new gins introduced, 4 flavoured – Popular product with craft distillers.

Summary

• Volume/revenue – Revenue up 4.5% to $21.3bn – Volume up 3.0% to 202m 9-litre cases;

• Premium+ products driving revenue growth – Super Premium volumes up 8.9%;

• Maintained and grew recent market share gains – 34.3% revenue market share, 31.9% volume market share;

• Strong product development meeting consumer demand.

Finally, US spirits exports hit new record with $1.5bn, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, compiled by the US International Trade Commission, with wine at $1.28bn and beer at $447m. American whiskeys account for 68% of US total spirits exports.

The US’s top export markets are: Canada, Australia, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Mexico and Italy.

Of emerging markets the largest growths from 2000 to 2012 have come from: Vietnam (7,520% from a negligible base) Singapore (918%, the largest overall), Latvia 2,907%, Poland (2,691%) and Romania (1,387%).





Digital Edition

Drinks International digital edition is available ahead of the printed magazine. Don’t miss out, make sure you subscribe today to access the digital edition and all archived editions of Drinks International as part of your subscription.

Comment

Ben Branson

Ben Branson on the future of non-alc spirits

In his inaugural column for Drinks International, Branson takes a wider look at the overall non-alcoholic spirits sector to identify which brands will thrive and which won’t survive.

Instagram

Facebook