Pernod Ricard, one of the biggest importers of alcoholic beverages on the domestic market, with turnover worth 10.8m euros last year, could post sales of above 8m euros this year for Ballantine's brand, against the 60% growth pace projected by the company.
"Ballentine's Finest is the best-selling brand in the portfolio of Pernod Ricard Romania. Sales of Ballantine's soared by around 50% in the first 9 months of this year against the same period of 2006, with the increase being generated by February 2007 move to reposition prices from 60-65 RON in 2006 to 40-45 RON this year," stated Tudor Furir, general manager of Ricard Romania.
In the wake of Romania's EU integration, all companies distributing imported alcoholic beverages moved to reposition prices for all products. Thus, as custom duties with margins of between 30% and 60% were eliminated, imported alcoholic beverages posted price cuts of between 20% and 40% against 2006, while prices of domestic beverages remained unchanged.
Domestic whisky sales could reach 3.7 million litres this year, namely over 50m euros, with scotch as the most important category on the whisky market, weighing over 75% in overall sales. Ballentine's has a market share of around 25% on the segment of standard scotch whisky, according to Pernod Ricard data quoting International Wine and Spirit Record (IWSR) survey conducted in 2006.
Ballentine's is fighting for share on a standard scotch market of 1.6 million litres in 2006 with J&B and Johnnie Walker Red, of Sollers PPD portfolio, Teacher's and Grants owned by Cristalex and Cutty Sark, imported by BDG Import starting 2007.
Thus, taking into account the market share Pernod Ricard estimates for Ballantine's brand and overall sales on the segment, of 1.6 million litres, the domestic arm of the French company last year sold around 400,000 litres of Ballantine's. Calculated at a price of 60-65 RON per bottle last year, Pernod Ricard got around 25m RON (7m euros) from Ballantine's sales alone.
"Around 30% of volumes were sold through duty free-type shops at Romania's borders, where prices were around half the prices in Romania. This is why the value of sales for 2006 can be estimated at 5.5-6m euros," explained Furir.
For the end of this year, he expects sales volumes for Ballantine's to rise by 55-60% against last year, amid market growth generated by Romanian consumer's rising appetite for internationally renowned brands.
According to the IWSR survey quoted by the company, Pernod Ricard accounts for 20% of the domestic market of alcoholic beverages imports worth approximately 70-80 million euros.
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