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Premiumisation drives baijiu growth
The premiumisation trend is spreading to baijiu, as the sector becomes “more sophisticated” with “better packaging”, Vinexpo CEO Guillaume Deglise has said.
Baijiu brands are forgoing traditional designs in favour of “more sophisticated” packaging
In a trade presentation earlier this week, Deglise said the Asia Pacific region is “dominating” the global market for national spirits due to the consumption of baijiu, which is the world’s largest spirits category.
China consumed approximately 1.2 billion cases in 2015, he said, a “really huge” increase of 2% on the previous year – though he warned that the data is based on production figures, so there may be surplus floating in the market. As such, the Chinese market is forecast to grow by 3% by the end of the decade to hit 1,270 million cases.
By contrast, local spirits categories such as Japanese shochu, which represents 100m cases per year, are witnessing declines, largely because the younger generation are opting for international brands.
The South Korean market, which Deglise said is “mainly a market of local soju”, will drop by 2.9% to hit 138m cases in 2020.
Overall, Asia Pacific grew by 5.5% between 2011 and 2011, and is forecast to add a further 51.5m million nine litre cases by the end of the decade.