Scotch Whisky Statistics

There are always those who want to know about more than just the taste of whisky. Questions always arise as to which country consumes the most whisky, how the U.S. compares with other countries in their imports and expenditures for Scotch whisky and how much taxes are generated from these international business deals. I am now able to answer some of your questions, thanks to the 1995 Statistical Report of The Scotch Whisky Association, Edinburgh, Scotland. I wish to express my appreciation to this excellent organization for coming to my aid on several occasions during the past few years. And now the facts:

A. The Intemational Market Distribution of Bottled-In-Scotland Malt Whisky:

• UK - 19%
• REST OF EUROPE - 17%
• USA - 16%
• ITALY - 15%
• FRANCE - 14%
• GERMANY - 7%
• REST OF WORLD - 12%

It is interesting to note, that JAPAN imports 40% of all BULK MALT WHISKY compared with 31% for CENTRAL and SOUTH AMERICA.  This is followed by FRANCE with 8%, SPAIN with 7% and the REST OF THE WORLD with 14%.

B. Now the "real nasty" statistic - TAXES.  Read this, my fellow Americans, when you are about to complain about your taxes: The cost of a bottle of Scotch whisky in the European Union includes the following percentage of taxes:

• UNITED KNGDOM - 67%
• FRANCE - 56%
• GREECE - 42%
• SPAIN - 37%

C. The Top Ten Markets in 1995 for Scotch Whisky (malt and blended) in dollar values were:

• USA - $426 million
• FRANCE - $371 million
• SPAIN - $320 million
• JAPAN - $191 million
• GREECE - $153 million
• SOUTH KOREA - $147 million
• TAIWAN - $141 million
• GERMANY - $124 million
• THAILAND - $118 Million
• ITALY - $109 million

D. Annual export earnings on Scotch whisky was 3.63 billion dollars in 1995.  To provide some perspective to these figures, it amounts to overseas sales of 30 bottles every second, which earned $118 every second.  It becomes easy to understand why Scotch whisky is one of the UK's top five export earners.   E. Scotch whisky earnings were worth $273,000 for every employee in the whisky industry. How's that for productivity?

F. Over one million visitors were welcomed to Scotch whisky distilleries in 1995.