EDINBURGH: Scotch whisky exports continued to decline in the first six months of the year as the economic downturn in Brazil and high import taxes in India curbed demand for the spirit.
Volume fell about 3 percent to 517 million bottles from the same period last year, the Edinburgh-based Scotch Whisky Association said in a statement Thursday. That matches the pace of contraction for all of 2014. The value of exported Scotch also dropped about 3 percent, the industry body said.
Shipments of Scotch to Brazil, where the real has weakened 29 percent against the pound this year, declined 24 percent. Exports to India fell 11 percent, the association said.
Scotch makers such as Britain’s Diageo Plc and French rival Pernod Ricard SA have grappled with waning demand for their spirits in both developed and emerging markets. Shipments of Diageo’s Johnnie Walker dropped 8 percent in the year ended June 30, while Pernod’s Chivas Regal fell 1 percent. In the U.S., the largest market for Scotch, drinkers have gravitated towards other brown spirits like bourbon, as well as craft beer.
Exports to France and the U.S. both increased less than 1 percent. Sales of single malt Scotch like Macallan and LVMH- owned Glenmorangie rose 5 percent, reflecting that “premium products are ever more popular,” the SWA said.
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