Spirits sales in the US – March 2024 – data

Sales of spirits in value terms dip 2.2% in March on corresponding period a year earlier
Volumes decline by 4.3%

There’s yet more grim reading for cognac brand owners in the latest data from NABCA: March’s near-16% sales value decline was the category’s worst monthly performance so far this year and continues to challenge the widely-held belief that consumption levels in the country more widely will normalise any time soon. Similarly, Irish whiskey is heading downward yet further, breaking double digits for the first month in 2023.

Over in American whiskey, flat value sales in March hints at a step into negative territory very soon, following January’s +4.1% and February’s +1.3% showings.

There’s better news – of a fashion – for scotch, which despite sliding by 5% was in better shape than in the first two months of this year.

On the positive side of the line, RTDs roared back into life, posting growth of 14% after mid-single-digit rises in January and February, while tequila appears to have levelled out at around +7% in Q1.

Combined, the country’s Control States had eight fewer selling days in the month compared to March 2023, with three more days in Pennsylvania not countering Michigan’s -7 and one day fewer in each of Alabama, Mississippi, Montana and North Carolina.

The data from NABCA measures spirits sales across 17 US states [and Montgomery County in Maryland] where distribution is state-controlled. This represents around 25% of total sales in the country and covers both the on- and off-premise channels.

The Control States are: