Rabobank's latest Wine Quarterly report, covering the third quarter of the year, issues the caveat to the global wine industry that cider will increasingly represent a threat to its market share as it has joined the “big leagues of the alcoholic beverage market,” thedrinksbusiness.com reports.
Though the UK remains the biggest consumer of the apple-based beverage, accounting for 40 per cent of the world's intake of it, the US, Australia and South Africa (among others) are all increasing their own respective rates of consumption.
Growth is exponential in the US, where cider consumption tripled from 2.3 million cases in 2012 to 7.8 million in 2014. Rabobank says its increase in popularity owes to the changing drinking habits of “younger, more affluent consumers.”
It says also that though cider will compete to a large extent with beers, the increasing volume is for winemakers a “current and future threat.”
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly
