Luxury rum growth may have passed its peak
as new figures forecast a severe slowdown over the next five years. Year-on-year global growth in the value of
luxury rum will drop to 34% in 2015 to 2020, down from 81% for the previous
five years, according to a Euromonitor report on luxury spirits. A key driver
of the slowdown will be the US, which will see growth fall to 7% from 84% in
2010-2015. The UK, another core rum market, will drop to 6% from 10%.
Rum has been at the center of attention
for several spirits companies over the past few years. Appleton Estate Rum has shown a significant
growth under the ownership Gruppo Camparin since its take over in 2009. An
August report indicated that rum had increased its premium and ultra premium
sales from 4.2m cases in 2009 to 6.7m cases in 2014.
Rum has had a reputation of being
fragmented , spending much of it efforts on local and trying to maintain its
party reputation. Today the producers
of the higher end rums like Diplomatico, Plantation, Havana Club and Bacardi, to name a few are creating an awareness of
their premium and ultra premium products.
The goal is to introduce the public to a sipping mystique, creating a
new group of customers that look at rum higher end expressions much like they
do at whiskey and scotch’s top expressions.
Last Summer Bacardi launched a new range of sipping rums called Single Cane Estate Rums, describing them as
the "new single malt" of the category.
The
slowdown is not just in the rum category, but throughout the most of the high end
spirits. It will be really important to
the industry to keep on top of what is happening as far as the sales of high
end spirits and specifically rum as the next 4 or 5 years goes.
Read
more at http://www.just-drinks.com/news/luxury-rum-heads-for-slowdown-as-us-growth-stalls-figures_id118806.aspx
