By Andy Young, TheShout
New figures from Euromonitor International claim that the value of the global luxury spirits market will have nearly doubled between 2010 and 2020.
The category was worth US$10.4 billion in 2010 and the Euromonitor figures predict that luxury spirits will be worth $19.4bn by 2020.
Euromonitor claims that most of this growth has already been experienced, in the first half of this decade. The research company says that the value of the luxury spirits category will grow by 30 per cent in the second half of the decade, 10 per cent slower that between 2010 and 2015.
Spiros Malandrakis, senior analyst at Euromonitor International, said: “One of the biggest benchmarks for luxury spirits in recent times has been the great recession. Luxury brands operating in Western markets, where thrift was now back in vogue, were pushed to focus on the emerging nations and China.
“While they too suffered from the global economic recession, these markets were still open to the ‘bling’ associations that previously dominated the luxury market in the West. This was most especially the case in China, from wine to Cognac to single malt whisky, where a bubble emerged as prices rocketed.
“But the latest benchmark in luxury spirits has been this bubble in China bursting, in line with the crackdown on extravagant spending brought in by the government. This came at a time when the sophistication of the Chinese palate increased.
“Now, even emerging nations do not like bling. Luxury has come of age across the world. As such, the major issue is now how luxury brands differentiate themselves from standard and premium categories.”
The US will be the main driver of growth over the decade and Euromonitor also predicts that China will emerge from the austerity push seen in the first half of this decade and experience year-on-year growth between 2015 and 2020.