ALCOHOLIC DRINKS CONTINUE TO INNOVATE

Alcoholic drinks are worth $1,470 billion and are the largest drinks category. Beer leads the way in this category, followed by spirits, wine and finally cider.

Beer and cider

Beer is the best-selling alcoholic drink in the world, accounting for nearly 40% of market share in value. And yet worldwide consumption of beer is declining in most countries, and dropped from 196.9 billion litres in 2012 to 196.2 billion in 2017, according to the research consultancy Euromonitor. On the other hand, the market is shifting upwards thanks to the arrival of craft and premium beers which help to drive the category: generating an additional $100 billion in the space of five years to reach overall turnover of $622 billion.

Less well-developed, the worldwide cider market - 1.9 billion litres, or 100 times less than beer - is chiefly concentrated in Europe where 70% of all bottles produced are sold. The United Kingdom and Ireland are the world’s two biggest cider drinkers, followed by Spain and France.

Spirits

Ranging from whisky and rum to vodka, brandy and more, the spirits market encompasses a wide spectrum of different alcoholic drinks which enjoy varying degrees of popularity depending on countries and their history. In 2018, the worldwide turnover for spirits amounted to $426 billion and could reach 498 billion (+17%) between now and 2023.

In this segment, whisky makes up 19% of market share, followed by brandy (15%) vodka (11%), rum (4%) and gin (3%), the rest being made up of other liqueurs and spirits.

Wine and champagne

In the wine sector, worldwide consumption is booming with attractive prospects for the sector’s stakeholders. Indeed, the wine market should be worth $224.5 billion between now and 2021, according to forecasts by Vinexpo/ IWSR. This would represent an increase of more than 40% in 10 years (2011-2021).

While France enjoys a worldwide reputation in this field, it is above all the United States (the world’s leading wine drinker) and China that are driving wine upwards, with constant increases in their per capita consumption. In these two countries, wine market revenue should amount to $45 billion and $15.2 billion respectively, also according to the estimates of Vinexpo/ IWSR.

The world champagne market is not doing as well, with a turnover which nonetheless remains flat, but volume sales declining. In France, the leading producer in the world, sales dropped by 4.2% in 2018, according to the French interprofessional committee for champagne (CICV). The previous year, they had already dropped by 2.5%. Export sales also fell (-1.8%).

For stakeholders in the alcoholic drinks industry, SIAL is an unmissable meeting. At the previous edition in 2018, 182 exhibitors presented products in this segment (wine, spirits, beer, cocktails and digestives), with a strong international contingent, as 86% of them came from outside France.

For these firms, SIAL is an opportunity to show off their know-how and new products by reaching a wide and varied audience. Innovations are particularly well highlighted, such as for example the Taggiasca Extravirgin gin produced by the Italian firm Olio ROI. This gin, distilled with juniper and olives and clocking in at 44° ABV, was singled out for its original taste and won the “Alcoholic Drinks” Innovation Award at SIAL 2018.