Spirits loved more abroad than at home
Scotland and France are two countries with three noble spirits of international renown, but home consumption of all three spirits is languishing. The reversal of tradition is revealed in research commissioned by Vinexpo, the world’s biggest wine and spirit exhibition.
Contrarily, by 2010 the French will drink more Scotch Whisky than the British, while the British will drink more Cognac and Armagnac than the French.
By 2010 the top five Scotch drinking countries will be France, the US, Spain, the UK and Thailand. Over that period volume sales in France will rise slightly to 11.35 million 9-litre cases. In Thailand they will rise by more than 50% to 4.42 million 9-litre cases. In the other three countries volume sales will fall.
The top five consumers of Cognac and Armagnac by 2010 will be the US, UK, China, Germany and France. Volume sales to the US will rise more than 12% to 4.1 million 9-litre cases and in the UK sales will rise by 6% to 920,000 9-litre cases.
China will see a massive increase of more than 83% to 1.49 million 9-litre cases. France, meanwhile, will see a fall in volume consumption of more than 20%.
