The top two largest spirits brands in the world remain unchanged on the IWSR’s Real 100 list this year. Hite Brewery’s Jinro, the South Korean soju brand, secured its pole position for another consecutive year as the brand’s total consumption reached almost 68m cases in 2012.
Thai spirit Ruang Kao held second place, but fast on its heels is Consolidated Distillers Philippines’ Emperador brandy which grew by a staggering 11m nine-litre cases in 2012. Emperador brandy knocked Smirnoff, the leading international brand on the list, from third place down to fourth.
Among the top 10 largest brands globally by volume, seven of the brands sell over 95% of their total sales in their home market. These local spirits brands are consumed in markets where international brands find it harder to penetrate. Emperador brandy knocked Smirnoff,are the only brands in the top 10 that have a much more expansive global distribution.
An alternative way to conquer the list is to buy other spirits companies. Diageo’s recent deal with United Spirits, making them majority shareholder, means the major multinationals now have a stake in 12 of the top 25 brands. Diageo alone has nine brands in the Real 100 and, combined with UB India’s brands, now boasts 19 in the list. Pernod Ricard has 12 brands in the list. Russian Standard’s takeover of CEDC means it now has four brands in the Real 100. The list is a reflection of today’s complex spirits market with local players sitting alongside internationally recognised powerhouses.
All of the brands that dropped out of the IWSR’s Real 100 since 2011 were locally dominant spirits brands. This comes as China, India, Russia, Japan and Brazil, some of the largest spirits markets globally, are all showing an increase in the share of imported spirits in their markets. As the Real 100 list shows, although big volume brands are often very regionally specific, there are huge opportunities for international spirits.
Between 2011 and 2012 the global spirits market grew by 1.6%, an increase of over 50m cases, bringing total consumption to its highest-ever level of almost 3.3bn nine-litre cases worldwide. The combined volume of the IWSR’s Real 100 list has similarly increased over the last year, with the world’s top 100 brands accounting for almost a quarter of all global spirits consumption. In 2012 the list’s total volume reached 808m cases, up from 727m cases in 2011.
The full Real 100 list is published exclusively in the July issue of the IWSR Magazine.
About the IWSR
The IWSR is the leading provider of data on wine, spirits and RTDs. The IWSR’s database, essential to the industry, is used by all of the largest multinational wine and spirits companies, as well as many more local companies. The IWSR has a unique methodology which, by tapping into local country expertise, allows us to get closer to what is actually consumed and better understand how markets work. The IWSR conducts face-to-face interviews with 1,500 companies in 115 countries each year, with further input from 350 companies. The IWSR tracks overall consumption and trends at brand, quality and category level for wine, spirits and RTDs, and aims to provide data that is as accurate and detailed as possible.