Spirit-based RTD beverages have shown global growth while total alcohol volume has fallen for only the third time in 15 years.
Global sales volumes of RTD beverages grew by eight percent in 2023 against a total drop in all alcohol sales volumes of 0.2 percent for the same period.
A just-released report from UK-based analytics firm Euromonitor International said that the decline in total sales volume was caused by a confluence of circumstances, including geopolitical upheaval impacting consumer sentiment, inflationary pressures in most Western markets, and a structural slowdown in China.
“The industry entered negative territory, a rare occurrence, highlighting the severity of the perfect storm facing it.” said Euromonitor’s Head of Alcoholic Drinks Research, Spiros Malandrakis.
Malandrakis said that both off and on-trade performance had decelerated significantly losing most of the momentum driving the post-pandemic bounce back and witnessing a 0.7 percent volume decline and one percent volume growth respectively.
In New Zealand, while RTD sales volumes continued to trend down, total spirit and spirit-based drink volumes passed that of wine in 2023.
“Although RTD sales volumes are down compared with the same time last year the wine and beer categories are also just as affected as consumers drink less but choose either no and low alcohol alternatives or sip and savour premium spirits instead,” said Spirits New Zealand Chief Executive, Robert Brewer.
The consumer trend leading to increased premium spirit consumption against a backdrop of falling overall sales volumes was confirmed recently when the World Spirits Alliance released its Global Economic Impact Study.
“As consumers drink less, they choose to spend their money differently. This has meant a surge in popularity for premium spirits,” said Brewer.
“This is good news for our fledgling homegrown spirits sector, which prides itself on producing premium spirits and which is already establishing itself as a growing exporter of premium product.”
The spirits industry contributed USD $730 gross value added to global GDP in 2022. The industry has also supported 36 million jobs worldwide, equivalent to the entire workforce of the UK.
In 2022, the spirits industry generated USD $390 in tax revenue for governments globally, which, if it was a national economy, would put it in the top 20 worldwide.
With USD $120 billion spent on third-party suppliers like grain growers and bottle-makers, the spirits industry fuels a diverse range of sectors. Fifty percent of spirits sold globally in 2022 were at a premium level or above, which has reflected consumers’ growing preference to drink less and drink better.
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