Spirits market worldwide - statistics & facts
Like the rest of the alcoholic beverages market, spirits are recovering from the downturn caused by the pandemic and inflation in the wake of the Ukraine war. Spirits are well poised to continue their growth. The world's largest alcohol markets, China and the United States are both great lovers of the beverage. By 2027, the size of the global alcoholic beverage market is expected to reach about two trillion U.S. dollars. The spirits market will account for almost a third of the overall market.
Although spirits are facing similar challenges as other segments of the alcoholic beverages industry, like concern about the health effects of alcohol, the segment seems better positioned than its counterparts to grow in the future.
China is the world's biggest spirits market
In 2023, China generated over 160 billion U.S. dollars in spirit revenue, making it the leading country in the global spirits market that year, by far. At about 95 billion U.S. dollars, the United States ranked second. In 2022, spirits overtook beer as the alcoholic beverage market share leader in the United States for the first time. It continued to take market share from beer in 2023. The United Kingdom is the world’s leading spirits exporter. Roughly 8.5 billion U.S. dollars’ worth of spirits was exported to other countries across the globe. The most popular spirits brand, in terms of sales volume was Jinro, a brand of soju owned by HiteJinro, with sales standing at over 97 million 9-liter cases in 2023. This was nearly three times more than the next brand, Ginebra San Miguel.Japan leads consumption
Consumption of spirits rebounded slightly in 2023, as it did for all categories of alcoholic beverages (except hard seltzer), but growth in consumption was still relatively small. With volume sales of nearly 470 million 9-liter cases, whiskies were the most popular type of distilled alcoholic beverages in the world. Just as China is the biggest market for spirits, the biggest consumers are also found in Asia. Per-capita volume sales were highest in Japan, with consumers drinking 24.86 liters per capita.Although spirits are facing similar challenges as other segments of the alcoholic beverages industry, like concern about the health effects of alcohol, the segment seems better positioned than its counterparts to grow in the future.
