Global gin volumes — stripping out sales of low-priced variants — hit a new high in 2016 of 32.4 million cases, according to Global Gin Insights, published by just-drinks.com and ISWR. The category recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.5% between 2012 and 2016, with 17 of the top 20 markets posting sales increases.
Looking ahead, the report forecasts that the top three gin markets — the US, Spain and the UK — will all record further sales increases in the years ahead, but growth will be even faster in a number of other countries across Western Europe and beyond.
By 2021, global gin volumes will near 40m cases, the IWSR predicts, with markets as diverse as Germany, South Africa and Mexico all poised for dynamic growth.
The main challenge for brand owners remains the difficult US market, as the report notes: “The performance in the US has been more lackluster, declining by -1.2% CAGR [between 2012 and 2016]. The market increased by 1% in 2016 – an increase that scarcely merits some of the hype attached to the gin category.”
While flavored gin is expected to be an increasingly significant consumer trend in the years to come, there are already signs of a shake-out among the vast numbers of new gin products hitting the market in the recent past, the report adds.