Irish Whiskey International Trade Report 2021

July 01, 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
Irish Whiskey Global report 2021 pdf | 1952.1 kb