Distillers look to rebuild business in Europe

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — American whiskey producers raised a glass to celebrate a trans-Atlantic agreement to end retaliatory tariffs that sank their sales in Europe.

Now comes the challenge of rebuilding brands that were stymied in those ultra-competitive markets during the lengthy Trump-era trade dispute.

Tasked with ramping up distribution networks in some of their industry’s largest overseas markets, producers of bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and rye whiskey also have to overcome problems in the global supply chain from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is an amazing reprieve — nothing but happiness and jubilation,” Amir Peay, owner of the Lexington, Ky.-based James E. Pepper Distillery, said. “There are some obstacles and problems that we will need to deal with, as will everybody. But that’s business.”

Whiskey exports to the EU plunged by 37%, from $702 million to $440 million, from 2018 to 2020, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

For Kentucky bourbon producers, sales to the EU plummeted by nearly 50% in 2020 alone, the Kentucky Distillers’ Association said. The EU accounted for 56% of all Kentucky whiskey exports in 2017 — the year before the tariffs hit — but its share shrank to about 40% by 2020.

“This deal is good for Kentucky’s workers and the iconic Kentucky bourbon industry,” said U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday that Raimondo “went to bat” for the state, highlighting their multiple conversations about how hard the EU tariff was hitting Kentucky.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2ZHJNIi