BY RICHARD BRANDES T
hough we had an uneven economy overall in 2011, the wine and spirits industry apparently stabilized compared to the weakness of 2008-2009 and the modest growth of 2010. Indeed, the American economy itself appears to be headed in a sustained positive direction, as most economic indicators have shown in early 2012, and wine and spirits sales are likely to pick up along with the economy, particularly among higher-end products. [Of course, as all economists point out, any exogenous events – such as dangerous political crises or wars, huge natural disasters, etc. - could easily change all that.] Still, overall wine and spirits sales volume increased nicely in 2011, according to the latest statistics, just
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released in the Handbook Advance 2012, published by the Beverage Information Group. U.S. distilled spirits sales volume rose to approximately 197.1 million 9-liter cases, representing a 2.6% gain versus 2010 (which saw an increase of 1.9% sales volume over 2009). And overall spirits retail revenue growth (the combined dollar total of off- and on-premise sales) also increased, by 3.0% to $67.66 billion, a $2 billion jump over 2010. It turns out that a large part of that increase is the result of more sales activity at the premium and above-premium price segments.
In fact, the latest statistics from The Nielsen Company note that sales of "ultra-premium" spirits in the U.S. (at an average selling price of $35.92) rose
StateWays s www.stateways.com s March/April 2012
