UK manufacturers' sales of gin have rocketed 267% from £130m to £461m over the last decade, as new figures show Britain represented 72% of total EU gin production in 2017.
A report released yesterday by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) showed that the UK ‘gin boom’ shows no signs of stopping.
The sales of the spirit has leapt to nearly half a billion since 2009, with Britain producing almost three-quarters of all gin made in Europe, according to the statistics.
Second to Britain was Spain with 11% of total production (£71m), and third, the Netherlands (4%).
The growth of gin is projected to rise further too. Traditional gin is estimated to grow by around 5% over the next five years, and flavoured versions of the spirit by 3%, according to data from the International Wines and Spirits Record (IWSR).
Last year in the UK, forty-seven million bottles of gin worth £1.2bn were served up. That’s enough, according to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA), to concoct 1.32 billion G&Ts.
The reason for this popularity?
Innovation. Innovation in gin flavours, colours, sizes and packaging.
The Manufacturer previously visited G&J Distillers in Cheshire, a distillery which produce 250,000 bottles of spirits every day, with household brands; Greenall’s Original Dry Gin, Opihr Spiced Gin and Bloom Gin, to their name.
It is also the largest supplier of own-label gin (plus vodka and Irish cream) in Britain. From the visit, it became evident that the gin market is fully embracing innovation in many different capacities. Learn more about the visit here.
The spirit’s popularity is also reflected in overall British food and drink exports. In the first six months of 2018, the industry’s exports hit a record £10.7bn, this figure up 5% for the same period last year. Read more about that success here.
UK whisky dominates EU market
The ONS report also showed that the UK comprised 81% of the total EU production of whisky last year, dominating the market at sales of £3.4bn, followed again by Spain at only £74m.
The UK was also the largest producer of soft drinks in the EU in 2017 with sales of £3.8bn, followed by Austria and Germany at £3.3bn and £3.1bn respectively.
