Cecilia Ruiz, Madrid Office, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board
Despite continuous challenges in the market (20% unemployment, lower average salaries and the political uncertainty in Cataluña), things have definitively improved in Spain. People have grown tired of worrying about the crisis and are going out and spending more. This, together with a top year for tourism (with over 75m visitors) has helped the whisky sector return to growth figures for the first time in over 15 years, mainly thanks to improvements in the on-trade, and as part of the broader premiumisation trend.
With a total market of 4,186,500 cases of 9l bottles, local whisky only accounts for 798,000 cases, and retail chains/home consumption for 866,666 cases. The market is clearly dominated by Scotch with 73.3% of the market followed at a distance by Bourbon (5.4%). Irish whiskey represents 0.9% of total whiskey sales in Spain. Out of the 44.750 9l cases of Irish whiskey in Spain 43.25 are sold as standard, with an average price of 14.50€ a bottle (70cl) and only 1.5% as premium.
Even though this could be considered as a great growth opportunity for Irish whiskey, the truth is that the Premium Category in Spain differs slightly to what would be considered Premium in Ireland.
According to Alimarket, top premium and super premium whiskeys in Spain in terms of sales are Jack Daniels (1.85M bottles) and Johnnie Walker Blue/Black/Double Black/Gold Reserve (0.77M bottles) followed by Chivas Regal (12 and 18). The top 10 Premium selling brands belong or are distributed by four companies: Varma, Diageo, Pernod Ricard, and Maxxium.
In terms of pricing the standard Jack Daniels retails in El Corte Inglés at 20.09€; the JD Red Dog at 24.50€; JD Gentleman Jack at 39.26€ and the JD Single Barrel Select in their Club of Gourmets stores at 49.35€. Mercadona sell Chivas Regal 12 yrs at 24.59€, and you can buy Johnnie Walker 18yrs for 61.95€ in Makro (all taxes included). There is also the Scotch Prestige, the Ultra Premium and Super Premium, however sales are quite limited.
On the Value front a good example is Mercadona´s exclusive own label “James Webb” Scottish Blend that retails al 5.95€.
Whisky prices in Spain differ from prices in Ireland. The Premium end of the market is in the hands of 4-6 big multinationals that invest big amounts of money and control the distribution channels. Competing with them without a brand name and a promotional & marketing budget is difficult. Even finding a distributor is difficult. All medium to big sized distributors (that depend on others to have national coverage) already carry a wide range of whiskies and often don’t feel the need or see the advantage to take on another brand. Opportunities do exist but bearing in mind that volumes will be small into niche markets.
For more information please contact cecilia.ruiz@bordbia.ie