The latest figures from HMRC show that British gin sales abroad were worth £672m in 2019, up 9% on the previous year.
Total sales of gin at home and abroad are now worth over £3.2bn, with the WSTA using the figures ahead of next month’s budget to urge the Chancellor to support British spirit makers so that they can prosper both at home and abroad.
In 2016 export sales of the juniper-based spirit broke the half a billion-pound mark for the first time and since then the popularity of British gin has seen sales continue to soar.
Britain sends more gin around the world than it does beef, wheat or beer, with gin sales worth 14% more than sales of British beer overseas – sales of British beer totalling £590m abroad in 2019.
The WSTA is calling on Government to support British gin exporters and encourage them to capitalise on the thirst for all things ‘Brand Britain’ in established and emerging markets.
WSTA Chief Executive, Miles Beale, said: “We now have year-end figures for the UK’s trade in 2019, and, just as was the case at the end of 2018, gin has ended on a high. It was not long ago that sales of gin at home and abroad broke the £3bn barrier and the category continues to go from strength to strength. If freezing duty supports this sort of growth, imagine what a cut could do?
“These numbers tell us three things – first, that neither Brits, nor those overseas, can get enough of British gin.
“Second, these numbers tell us something else important – 47% of our gin exports go to the EU. As British spirit makers gear up to tackle new export markets, it will be important to maintain the booming trade in British gin – linking British supply and European demand, and vice-versa – through the transition period on 31st December 2020.
“Finally, British spirit makers, many of whom are SMEs, need greater support from the Government to continue to grow and to export sooner and further afield. That is why, as a first and easy step, we are calling on the Chancellor to cut duty by 2% at the Budget, which is exactly one month away on 11th March.”
