Exports of spirits from the US broke the US$2bn barrier for the first time last year, according to figures released this week, as the tariff rows between the country and Europe faded out of view.
Following three years of declining shipments to 2021, last year’s exports registered $2.06bn, a 30% year-on-year jump, the Distilled Spirits Council of the US said. In its annual ‘American Spirits Exports’ report, the trade association credited not only the suspension of retaliatory tariffs on a range of spirits categories by the European Union and the UK, but also “the range of trade agreements that … opened many foreign markets”.
While the EU surpassed its pre-pandemic level of spirits imports from the US in 2022, shipments to the UK of American whiskey, by far the largest category for US spirits exports, were still 25% down on 2018's high of $150m. The UK, which like the EU suspended its tariffs last year, took $112m-worth of total spirits from the US.
Overall the American whiskey segment grew 32% in value terms, year on year.
Vodka producers in the US had a strong year abroad, with exports leaping 57% on 2021. Rum, meanwhile, was up 16% with gin shipments climbing by 26%.
DISCUS noted, however, that the threat remains of tariffs being reinstated in the coming months. ". If an agreement on steel and aluminium is not reached with the EU before the end of 2023, the EU will reimpose its retaliatory tariff at 50% on American whiskeys," said international trade VP Rob Maron. "That will bring this renewed interest in American whiskey among EU consumers to a screeching halt.”
How premium brown spirits can ride out the macroeconomic storm – Category Intel
