May 9th, 2025: India-UK spirits tariffs and other news from this week
India will reduce tariffs on whisky and gin from the UK, two cask investment companies have folded in Scotland, Brown-Forman new steps in Italy, spirits tourism in Guadalupa and more
While everybody is scrolling news about the new Pope election, Leone XIV (the American, Robert Francis Prevost), here we focus on a different idea of “spirit”.
The most interesting news today is about trade.
India will cut tariffs on whisky and gin from the UK
An agreement reached between the two countries will halve the rate of duty from 150% to 75%, before falling to 40% by year 10 of the deal.
This is very good news for the industry today. What will this mean in terms of export and target markets for Scotch Whisky in the next years? This will certainly create new opportunities for distilleries.
The news is popping up everywhere online.
Here is the official statement by the Scotch Whisky Association:
SWA welcomes "transformational" UK-India FTA
You find a good article by Olly Wehring on Global Drinks Intel, who reminds you some figures about Scotch Whisky export markets:
Scotch whisky prepares for India boom as trade deal agreed
And here is an article on the Hindustan Times with some figures, just to read things from the other side as well:
Whisky tariffs halved: What's in the 'historic' India-UK free trade deal?
There is bad news too.
Two cask investment companies have folded in Scotland
Apart from slowdowns in production, here is something concerning cask investments. Read this article by Alasdair Ferguson on the Scottish newspaper The National:
Two Scotch whisky cask investment firms go bust with all jobs lost
Brown-Forman starts its own distribution business in Italy
This week’s news from the Italian spirits trade is about Brown-Forman. The brand is going to begin its own distribution starting from this month. Former collaborations included Montenegro, Compagnia dei Caraibi, Velier and Fine Spirits.
Almost every newspaper is relaunching the company press release, so here it is:
Brown‑Forman Launches Distribution Business in Italy
"With our own distribution business, we are empowered to tailor our strategies to the unique characteristics of the Italian market”, stated Agnieszka Przybylek, General Manager, Italy, Brown‑Forman.
It’s a strategic shift and the company is certainly aware that Italy is not an easy market at all. They are now empowered to deal with 20 different regional markets, with even more internal differences (this might be similar to other countries), plus Italy’s delayed payments culture. It is going to be challenging, even for a big company like them.
Guadeloupe is working on a rum route to better structure its spirits tourism system and opportunities.
A “Laboratoire national du spiritourisme” has been created and is supported by the Guadeloupe Riviera Tourist Office and the ministry of Overseas Territories and the Higher Council for wine tourism. There are political announcement at the moment, some first initiatives will start in the next months.
Here is the article by Clara Griveau on the French newspaper Le Figaro:
«Rendre la France incontournable pour les amateurs de spiritueux» : la Guadeloupe veut lancer sa route des rhums
Good reads too.
Italian whisky and the influence of the national wine production.
Italian Wine can play an interesting role in the rising local whisky industry, with more than 500 different grape varieties and a considerable number of white, red and sweet wines ageing in wood, including some very well know Dop wines. Of course it is not all about wine: Italy has a very good amount of grains too and local distillers are working on the raw material to shape the style of the new spirit.
Decanted published a nice article by Jacopo Mazzeo on this topic. No surprise there is a little emphasis on wine here, as this is Decanter’s main focus, but this articles gives you a reasonably good overview about the whisky production in Italy with an interview to Davide Terziotti, who is one of the most reliable whisky and spirits experts in our country. Read it here:
Italian whisky: A rising industry influenced by wine history
What do you think about the news? Let me know. You can leave a comment or send me a direct message.