This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Scotch whisky volume shipments grow in H1
Volume exports of Scotch whisky returned to growth in the first six months of 2016, but shipments by value remained down, according to HMRC figures released by WhiskyInvestDirect.
After witnessing consistent declines since 2013, Scotch whisky volume exports are now back in growth
The online whisky trading platform reports that Scotch whisky’s performance in H1 was “mixed”, with volume exports increasing 2.6% to 148 million litres of pure alcohol (LPA), but value exports dropping 1.5% to £1.69 billion.
However, the value performance in H1 marks a “sizeable improvement” to the same period in 2015, when exports fell 3.1%. Compared to H1 2014, when value shipments plummeted 11%, figures seem to support the Scotch Whisky Association’s (SWA) prediction that the industry is poised to return to growth after a troubled few years.
Scotch whisky has been impacted by the on-going austerity campaign in China, “geopolitical risk” in Russia, as well as currency issues in other emerging markets, meaning the sector has been in steady decline since 2013.
WhiskyInvestDirect claims that greater decline was witnessed in Q2 2016 than Q1 due to a 23% drop in exports to Latin America and the Caribbean over this period. In H1, Scotch shipments to the region tumbled 11%.
“Over the first half of 2016 as a whole, exports of Scotch continue to be spread relatively evenly between the three major markets – the European Union, North America and Asia & Oceania,” said WhiskyInvestDirect.
Double-digit H1 value declines were also seen in Sub-Saharan Africa (-17%) and non-EU Western Europe (-15%).
However, value exports of Scotch whisky to the key US market increased by 9.5% in H1, adding £31m to the industry, while “record” figures were recorded in Australia and India, where shipments soared 28% in value and 41% in volume.
WhiskyInvestDirect anticipates an improved performance for Scotch shipments in H2, as this period historically outperforms H1 due to the increase in consumer over Christmas and New Year.
In 2015, both volume and value exports of Scotch whisky were down, but the decline slowed significantly, marking continued “improvement” in the industry.