Chinese Liquor Market is Booming

The rise of a drinking culture at Chinese social gatherings, along with increased disposable income among younger consumers, will mean the Chinese spirits market will grow at a compound annual rate of 15% until 2021, according to GlobalData.

Bussiness intelligence analyst GlobalData claims the market will reach over $450 billion by 2021, from $205 billion in 2016.

In 2016, the Chinese spirits market held 32.8% of the global volume share and 52.3% of the Asia-Pacific regional volume share – and it is projected to reach 46.9% and 66.2% respectively by 2021.

The volume of spirits consumption is expected to rise from 8.4 billion litres in 2016 to 16.9 billion litres in 2021.

China’s younger consumer base that drink on social occasions and the country’s increasing number of female drinkers will play a key role in the years to come for the Chinese spirits market, according to GlobalData.

Per capita spirits consumption in the country was pegged at 7.3 litres in 2016, nearly a full litre over the global average of 6.4 litres and 6.2 litres in the Asia-Pacific region. China’s per capita spirits consumption is set to rise to 14.4 litres by 2021.

Speciality spirits are Chinese drinkers’ favourite category compared to other spirit types; it accounted for 94.2% and 98.2% in terms of value and volume respectively in 2016. This large size is due to the amount of locally-produced and China-specific spirits.

The category, worth $193.3 billion in 2016, is set to grow further at 15.1% per year, dominating the overall spirits market to 2021.

Brandy was second in the market with a 3.9% value share and a 0.9% volume share, followed by whiskey, vodka, gin and tequila and mescal. Of these trailing category, tequila and mezcal are said to demonstrate the most notable signs of potential growth ahead.

In 2016, every six in ten spirits consumers were male in China. Consumption was high among consumers with tertiary education, who accounted for 75.6% of the total, followed by 17.3% consumers with post-secondary education. In terms of geography, spirits consumption is mostly concentrated in urban China with a significant share of 97.5%.

GlobalData analyst Ryan Whittaker said: “The country’s GDP has grown at a rate of around 7–8% in the last few years, which has increased disposable income, especially in more cosmopolitan urban areas. With more dispensable income, these Chinese consumers love to spend on social occasions, especially on drink.

“While the tequila and mezcal category is at the bottom in terms of value and volume, it will witness the fastest growth, rising at 21.6% over 2016–2021.”