Spirits in Thailand

PROSPECTS

Imported spirits benefit from new tax regime

The new tax regime introduced in September 2017 served to lower the price of imported spirits, while local spirits saw a rise in price. However, this situation has not led to a significant switch to imported spirits as spirits is a less price-sensitive category than beer or wine.

Japanese whisky and shochu/soju continuing to attract increasing interest

Japanese whisky was once again the best performing spirits category in 2018 and is set to remain so over the forecast period, albeit continuing to grow from a low base. This can be largely attributed to the rising international profile of Japanese whisky, which is being driven by various brands.

The emergence of craft spirits

Thailand is not only witnessing the rise of craft beer but also craft spirits, particularly in the English gin and white rum categories, with craft products accounting for the majority of sales here. The craft movement is being supported by various events in bars and nightclubs organised by distributors such as Bootleggers Trading to highlight new domestically produced small-batch spirits such as Chalong Bay, Three Monkeys, Lamoon Lamai and Issan in rum and Grandma Jinn’s and Iron Ball in gin.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Thai Beverage continues to dominate spirits

In 2018, spirits in Thailand remained largely in the hands of Thai Beverage thanks to its strength in “other spirits”, which continued to account for the vast majority of the wider category’s volume sales, particularly sura khao. Indeed, the company continued to drive the growth of sura khao in 2018, having launched a new variant of its Ruang Khao brand in late 2017 following the end of the official mourning period for King Rama IX.

A new player enter spirits to challenge Thai Beverage

2017/2018 saw the emergence of a new player looking to challenge the dominance of Thai Beverage in spirits, initially in the sura khao category. A group of executives from Carabao Group have founded a company called Tawandang 1999 and have invested around THB3 billion in building a state-of-the-art distillery in Chai Nat’s Hankha district.

Diageo Moët Hennessy gains share in dark rum

Dark rum in Thailand continued to grow strongly from a low base in 2018, largely thanks to the category’s clear leader, Diageo Moët Hennessy. In order to offer consumers better value for money the company reduced the price of its Captain Morgan brand.

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