US Liquor Sales Come Up Short in 2008

U.S. sales growth of distilled spirits slowed last year, a trade group said on Friday, proving liquor is not immune to a recession.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) also abandoned its practice of giving industry forecasts for 2009, citing marketplace volatility.

The trade group joins a growing list of companies, including Fortune Brands , Microsoft , eBay and Coach , that say it is too hard to predict results in the recession.

DISCUS said U.S. revenue for spirits companies rose 2.8 percent to $18.7 billion in 2008, while sales by volume rose 1.6 percent to 184 million 9-liter cases.

That represents a slowing from 2007, when revenue rose 5.6 percent and volume rose 2.4 percent, and DISCUS's prior forecast, which called for revenue growth of 4 percent to 5 percent and volume growth of about 1.9 percent.

"Contrary to popular belief, the entire beverage alcohol sector is recession-resistant, not recession-proof," said DISCUS CEO Peter Cressy in a press release.

Exports of U.S. spirits, primarily American whiskeys, rose 8 percent to $1.1 billion in 2008, the group said, citing double-digit growth in Australia, Canada and France.

The DISCUS data come a day after Fortune Brands, maker of Jim Beam bourbon and Sauza tequila, posted weaker-than-expected profit and said fourth-quarter global spirits revenue was flat, excluding the impacts of inventory destocking by distributors, currency fluctuations and higher Australian taxes. Including those factors, sales fell 16 percent.

Earlier this month, France-based Pernod Ricard, the world's second-biggest alcoholic drinks group after Britain's Diageo , said performance in the United States, its biggest market, had suffered from sellers whittling down their inventories.

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