Global spirits market falls flat in 2014

The global spirits sector fell flat in 2014 due to a weak performance by local spirits brands, new research by the IWSR has revealed.

A slowdown in the global spirits market continued in 2014, despite an overall increase in exports

The International Wine and Spirits Research (IWSR) has released new figures showing the global spirits market declined 0.1% last year, a loss of 3.1 million nine-litre cases.

Imported spirits grew by 4.3m cases, however this was not enough to offset a 7.4m case decline in the local spirits categories. The slowdown has been attributed to “cross-category switching and economic influences”.

Markets including the Americas, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and Europe all experienced a decline in local spirits consumption, impacted by the decline of cachaça in Brazil and vodka in the Ukraine.

However, consumption of local spirits in Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East remained in growth.

IWSR claimed Africa and the Middle East was now a “key region” for growth and investment, witnessing the largest volume percentage growth in terms of spirits consumption.

The region gained 1.2m in local spirits volumes and 1.5m in imported spirits brands.

According to the figures, whisky was the largest-growing category globally in 2014, growing in both domestic and export markets and adding 10m cases. India, the US and Angola were the top three largest-growth markets for the sector.

This is despite a fall in Scotch whisky exports to the industry’s key markets in 2014, hit by China’s on-going austerity campaign and increased competition in the US.

Last year, international spirits sales increased by a marginal 0.1% to 3.09 billion nine-litre cases, which the IWSR described as a “dramatic slowdown” compared to the 6.5% compound annual growth seen between 2007 and 2011.