|
Vodka to outstrip whisky sales over the next few years |
| Print |
|
E-mail
|
|
Saturday, 27 May 2006 |
|
Vodka sales in the UK are likely to grow by 21% over the next four or five years to top £3.8bn, making vodka almost as big a category as the total whisky market. By comparison, independent analyst Datamonitor is predicting total whisky sales will grow by just 5% over the same period to reach £3.9bn.
Vodka, said Datamonitor analyst Lee Schneider, continued to attract a younger audience than most dark spirits and per capita consumption of unflavoured vodka was expected to grow from 0.9 litres to 1.2 litres by 2010. Per capita whisky consumption would remain fairly static around 1.3 litres, he said.
"Manufacturers have been unable to entice the average British drinker to increase their consumption of whisky and there is not much potential for growth," said Schneider.
Vodka overtook Scotch whisky, which accounts for 70% of total whisky sales, in value terms in 2003.
The UK spirits market is one of the biggest in Europe, with sales reaching £9.6bn in 2005, with the consumer averaging 3.8 litres of spirits per year. Consumption, said Datamonitor, was fairly flat, with sales growing by around 2.3% annually. As a result, the market should be worth £10.7bn by 2010, thanks to the continued growth of the vodka category.
Source: CheckOut
|
News 
