Irish Whiskey International Trade Report 2021
Irish Whiskey Global
International Trade Report 2021
‘Irish Whiskey Global’ is the Irish Whiskey Association’s inaugural international trade report.
The report was issued on 1 July 2021 and jointly-launched by Ireland’s Minister for State for Trade Promotion, Robert Troy TD and the UK’s Minister for Exports, Graham Stuart MP.
The report sets-out how exports Irish whiskey has benefited from recent positive developments on the international trade front including:
- The lifting of the 25% US tariff on Northern Irish single malts.
- Further reductions in recent months to Canadian provincial levies on Irish whiskey as a result of the CETA agreement, with an overall 66% growth in sales in Canada from 2017-2020 supported by CETA
- New protections for the Irish whiskery geographical indication (GI) as a result of EU bilateral agreements with China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam.
- The elimination or phasing-out of tariffs across the Southern African Development Community and in other markers including Colombia, South Korea and Vietnam as a result of EU trade deals; and in Australia (for Northern Irish whiskey) as a result of the new UK trade agreement.
The report sets out a range of policy objectives to support future Irish whiskey international trade. In the report, the Irish Whiskey Association calls for:
- A permanent end to all transatlantic trade disputes, building on recent positive developments.
- Reform of both the rules-of-origin for whiskey and territoriality rules in all EU and UK trade agreements to protect and facilitate the Irish whiskey industry’s cross-border supply chain on the island of Ireland.
- Inclusion of tariff reductions in both EU and UK trade negotiations with India.
- Elimination of outstanding discriminatory levies and mark-ups in in Canada
- Ratification of the CETA agreement by Dáil Éireann and conclusion and ratification of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.
- Expansion of tariff-free trade to more African markets and progression of trade agreement negotiations with Thailand.
- Facilitation of spirits e-commerce in future trade agreements
