9: World Gin industry
The Global Gin Market
Global gin sales, which add up to approximately 47 million nine-litre cases by volume 1, have declined slightly in recent years. This fall has, however, been experienced far more by the cheaper local brands, which comprise nearly 80% of sales. By comparison, imported premium gins have enjoyed significant growth in most of the recent years – up a phenomenal 46% between 2001-2005.
The most important gin consumer and producer countries in the world
The Philippines.
The Philippines is the world’s largest gin market. The Philippines spirits market comprises nearly 50 million cases and is dominated by domestically produced spirits (98%). The Gin market, in which San Miguel is by far the largest brand, is 22M cases (62% of the market) but this is very approximate. In global terms, Philippine gin accounts for 43.5% of the world gin market. Imported gins account for a miniscule proportion of the market but some UK owned gin brands are produced locally.
USA.
Although second in the league table in terms of gin sales, the US is the largest international spirits market. The spirits sector accounts for approximately a third of all alcohol consumption. The US is by far the biggest export market for UK produced gin by volume (12 Million LPA) 2. Additionally, a large volume of UK label gin is produced in country. In toto, nearly 11.2 million 9-litre cases of gin were sold in 2006, generating over $908 million in revenue for distillers. At retail this volume was worth around $2.7 billion (including restaurant and tavern sales).
Spain.
Spain has a spirits market of approx. 23M 9-litre cases. It is the largest gin-drinking country in Europe with a total market (imported and domestically produced) of some 3.2 Million cases 1, this having reduced from approx. 6M cases in 1990.The gin market is dominated by domestic brands, which account for some 75% of sales. Spain and the UK together account for 57% of gin sales in Europe. 1 Spain, which imports nearly 5M LPA of UK produced gin at a Customs value of £36.5M, is our second largest market in the world and the largest in Europe.
UK
The UK is the principal land for gin as well as whisky. The UK is the home of London gin. And second the UK is the largest exporter of gin in the world with approximately 70% of production worth £200M going overseas to some 180 countries around the world.
1 Source: The International Wine & Spirit Record (The IWSR) and should be attributed to them
2 Source: UK Customs and The Gin and Vodka Association
The most important gin producer companies in the world
- San Miguel is only produced in the Philippines and accounts for 43% of global sales.
- Diageo is the second largest producer and owner of Tanqueray, Gordons and Gilbeys. Their premium gins are distilled at Cameron Bridge in Scotland whereas others are produced in a number of countries around the world including India and USA. They also own the rights to other gins such as Booths and Boords.
- Resulting from its ownership of Beefeater gin, distilled at Kennington in London, Pernod Ricard is the third largest producer. They also own Seagram’s gin, the number one selling gin in USA that is distilled at Lawrenceburg, Indiana; Cork Dry gin in Ireland; and Boodles in UK.
- Fortune Brands of USA, owner of Jim Beam Brands, have Larios gin, which is produced at Malaga in Spain.
- Greenalls distil their own brands at Warrington, Cheshire, in England as well as Bombay Sapphire gin for Bacardi.
- Macdowells, owners of Blue Riband gin, is one of a number of gin producers in India.
Production data in UK
UK gin production exceeds 45M litres of pure alcohol a year, up from 38M in 1998. Until recently, there were fourteen distilleries with production and bottling sites of distilled and compounded gin, stretching from Plymouth in the South West of England to Invergordon in North West Scotland. However, there are a number of micro or craft distilleries now emerging
The people working in the gin industry
The combined spirits industry makes a valuable contribution to the economic welfare of local communities by creating 68,000 jobs across the UK of which some 2000 direct jobs and 8,000 indirectly are attributable to the gin and vodka sector. This figure does not include the hospitality industry. The industry supports approx. 1 in 50 jobs in Scotland.
Income and exports
Looking externally, the UK alcohol beverage industry exports £3 Billion at Customs valuation. Of this £200 Million is gin exported to over 200 countries. Together with Scotch Whisky, we account for some 25% of total UK food and drink exports.