Spirits

Spirits registered a recovery in 2021, with volume sales increasing by a fifth. However, with the virus still lingering and certain restrictions still in place, such as restrictions on opening hours for parts of the year, the pandemic still had an…

Mid-priced spirits witnessed stagnant growth in 2021 as local consumers gravitated to other price bands. On the one hand, the impact of the pandemic continued to place pressure on mid-income and lower-income consumers, with many losing their income…

Spirits registered a decline in volume sales for the second year running, mainly due to supply issues of Costa Rica’s most popular spirit, guaro (see below). However, premium spirits performed well in 2021, with Tequila (and mezcal) being the…

While volume growth was muted in 2020, spirits benefitted from the opening up of society in 2021, and registered healthy volume growth. Volume sales increased by a fifth within on-trade channels and retail channels also registered positivise growth.…

Total volume sales of spirits witnessed a double-digit decline in total volume terms in 2020. This was largely due to the decline in on-trade sales brought about by the closure of bars, restaurants and other on-trade venues following the outbreak of…

2020 was an exceptional year for spirits overall, as the surge in off-trade sales for at-home consumption outweighed the losses in the on-trade. Defying many expectations, 2021 remained a year of growth for the category in total volume terms, even as…

Up to 2019, whiskies enjoyed a decade of consecutive year-on-year growth, supported by the surging demand for highballs – a mix of whisky and carbonated water. Moreover, there was a worldwide boom in sales of Japanese whisky, which caused a supply…

Vietnam was faced with a soaring number of COVID-19 cases in April 2021 as it was hit by the Delta variant, with the number of cases being especially high in Ho Chi Minh and southern regions of the country. In response to this crisis, the Vietnamese…

In 2021, sales of baijiu (Chinese spirits) continued to see a strong decline. Five years of continuous decrease in volume sales were partly due to a transition in consumers’ perceptions of baijiu consumption. In the face of COVID-19, consumers paid…

Spirits consumption in the Dominican Republic is dominated by rum consumption; however, in 2021 the category was negatively impacted by the illegal use of empty bottles to sell counterfeit rum. Big efforts have been made to shut down the illegal…

After a further decline in demand in 2020 due to the closure of on-trade channels and pandemic-related quarantines that affected Chile for most of the year, spirits recorded exceptional growth in 2021, as the country introduced its fourth vaccination…

Spirits registered a decline in volume sales for the second year running, though the decline was not as severe as for wine and beer. The drop in volume sales was mainly due to increased smuggling activity, mainly from Argentina. As a consequence of…

Spirits are largely dependent on on-trade channels, with more than half of volume sales normally sold through foodservice channels. As a result, spirits were hugely negatively impacted by the 2020 COVID-19 restrictions. In 2021, with society opening,…

The consumption of spirits in Ecuador is closely associated with social contact and socialising. During the closure of universities and with people working from home during the pandemic, the consumption of spirits therefore recorded significant…

Coronavirus (COVID-19) impacted spirits very significantly, as these products are usually consumed outside of the home. Overall, the category's on-trade volume sales saw a sharp decline in 2020. The slump in on-trade sales was a result of the closure…

With the COVID-19 crisis continuing, ongoing restrictions on the operations of foodservice channels, widespread working from home and the fact that educational establishments remained closed for much of the year all served to dampen spirits sales in…

As was the case for all categories of alcoholic drinks, sales of spirits through the on-trade channel were hard hit by COVID-19 in 2020 as the lockdown resulted in the closure of bars, restaurants, and other foodservice outlets. The alcohol…

Soju, the dominant category in South Korean spirits, recorded low volume declines in 2021, with greater at-home consumption during the pandemic, especially among single-person households, negatively its performance. South Koreans tend to choose…

Following a steep contraction in 2020, spirits posted double-digit growth in on-trade volume sales in 2021. This impressive turnaround was underpinned by the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and the easing of pandemic-related restrictions in Bosnia and…

The closure of on-trade establishments in the 2020 and 2021 COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK was devastating for the spirits category, which has a very strong presence in the on-trade. People typically enjoy everything from premium spirits on the rocks…