Gin exports up 550% in Q1
And whiskey exports enjoyed a 4.7% increase in value to €148.4 million in the first three months of the year as volumes grew 13.4%.
However exports of cider (and perrys) saw a significant drop in values in Q1 of 2018, to just under €8 million from €12.2 million in 2017’s Q1 and beer too fared poorly in terms of export value, falling 4.4% to €64.3 million from January to March this year compared to a €67.3 million export figure in Q1 2017.
But where cider/perry volumes showed a decline of 35%, beer export volumes actually grew 5%.
On the imports side, imported gins grew by 230% in value to €3.2 million on a 273% volume increase while imported whiskey sales fell 9.5% to €3.3 million as volumes decreased 7.6%.
Imports of beer also shrunk 12.8% to just under €31 million in value while volumes were down by 11.4% on the same quarter in 2017.
Cider & perry imports fell 3.1% in value to €2.2 million but volumes grew by 2.8%.
We imported 11.7% more wine in the first quarter of 2018 than in Q1 2017, reaching a value of €51.2 million compared to €45.9 million in the corresponding quarter in 2017. Wine volumes also showed growth of 2.9% in the quarter while sparkling wines witnessed a 12.9% drop in values with a hefty 31.5% drop in volumes.
Finally, imports of rum grew 4.1% in value to €1.4 million with a corresponding 5.4% growth in volumes in the quarter compared to Q1 2017.
