9: The gin and vodka industry in scotland

Fact Sheets: Overview; 1: UK Alcohol sales and consumption; 2: Excise tax on Gin and Vodka; 3: The UK white spirits market; 4: Exports and Imports; 5: Spirits Ready-To-Drink beverages (RTDS); 6: Cumulative burden of taxation, regulation and extra costs; 7: Environmental, employment & rural issues; 8: The gin and vodka industry in scotland; 9: World Gin industry; 10: The gin market - a global picture; 11: The vodka marget - a global picture

Impact in Scotland

Approximately 80% of gin and vodka now comes off the line in Scotland. This results from the major companies choosing to consolidate the Scotch whisky and gin and vodka industries in Scotland. The value of exports of ‘Made in Scotland’ gin and vodka is £184M at Customs values (not the retail value).

Enterprise Investment in Scotland

Capital investment by the gin and vodka industry has exceeded £80M in Scotland in recent years, mostly in modernisation, integration and RTD development. This consolidation has also been caused by the need to reduce overheads to achieve returns comparable with overseas competitors.

Employment

The combined spirits industry makes a valuable contribution to the economic welfare of local communities by creating 65,000 jobs across the UK of which some 8,000 are directly attributable to the gin and vodka sector. Because so many spirits companies have integrated facilities with co-located gin, vodka and Scotch production, it is difficult to disaggregate this figure from the total employment related to the spirits industry. That said, the gin and vodka sector’s impact in Scotland has increased in recent years due to this restructuring and the growth of the vodka sector. Overall, the spirits industry supports approx. 1 in 50 jobs in Scotland.

Contribution to the Rural Economy & Employment

Over £180M is contributed to the public purse from Excise and VAT on gin and vodka produced in Scotland, and the total input to the Scottish economy arising from the gin and vodka sector production exceeds £30M. The gin and vodka sector’s impact in Scotland has increased due to the restructuring with some 2,300 jobs related to the gin and vodka sector.

Scottish Cereals

Nearly £6M is spent in Scotland on cereals for gin and vodka and RTDs. This required approx. 70,000 tonnes of wheat or barley.

Consumption

The retail market value of gin and vodka sales in Scotland exceeded £400M in the last 12 months with Vodka accounting for sales of over 1.7M cases. The sale of vodka far exceeds that of Scotch whisky in Scotland as Scotch. Relatively little gin is drunk in Scotland at 348,000 cases.