The value of whiskey exports from Ireland soared past €1 billion for the first time on record last year, according to latest industry figures released today (Wednesday, January 11).
According to the Irish Whiskey Association, more than 15 million cases equivalent to 180 million bottles were sold last year.
William Lavelle, director of the association, said breaking the €1 billion barrier in export sales is an important milestone.
“Across the island of Ireland, the growth in Irish whiskey exports has created more quality jobs, brought more investment into regional and rural communities, and led to more purchasing from Irish farmers,” he added.
According to the Irish whiskey global international trade report 2022, 95% of whiskey is sold in markets outside of Ireland.
The association noted in the report that exports to Ukraine and Russia – which represented 7% of total 2021 sales volume – were adversely impacted by the ongoing war.
“This development, coupled with concerns about environmental and human rights situations in other countries, has sparked an increased debate on who we should trade with and the values that should underpin that trade,” the Irish Whiskey Association stated.
According to the association the Irish whiskey sector, which is comprised of more than 40 distilleries, continues to “deliver” for agriculture and rural communities by purchasing on average 100,000t of Irish barley and malt annually.
An estimated 350,000t of “co-products” such as spent grain and pot ale are also reused as high-quality animal feed every year and the association said rural distilleries attract in the region of 460,000 visitors each year which in turn injects an estimated spend of €63 million into local communities.
According to the Irish Whiskey Association the number one export market is the US, followed by the European Union and then the UK.
It claims that across all markets there is a growing global demand for premium, higher-priced Irish whiskey and that there is increased interest in the product from “millennial and generation Z consumer segments”.
But Lavelle said the sector also faces key challenges in 2023 including the “protection of free trade with the US”.
It also said ongoing EU trade negotiations with Australia and Kenya and the UK could have an impact on Irish whiskey exports this year.