(Yicai Global) Nov. 10 -- Chinese consumers' growing thirst for foreign liquors has attracted some of the world’s biggest whisky distillers to the fourth China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

Diageo, Edrington and Douglas Laing all brought their finest Scotch whiskeys. Japanese brewer Kirin introduced the Four Roses Bourbon, while the UK’s Diageo and France’s Remy Cointreau came laden with time-honored and limited-release products.

Diageo has great expectations for whisky sales in the country, Mark Edwards, managing director of Diageo China, said at the CIIE on Nov. 8. China accounted for 5 percent of the London-based distiller’s global sales in the first half, up from 2 percent a year ago. The growth rate of its sales of Scotch whiskey reached 21 percent, second only to that of China’s grain-based baijiu alcohol.

The market penetration rate of foreign liquors in China is just 3 percent at present, yet there is huge room for growth, Edwards said. Drinking the finest Scottish malts has spread from restaurants to family dining rooms. They have become part of the country’s culture of gift giving. And with increased spending power, the Chinese consumer has developed an increasingly refined taste for liquor, he added. They are after better quality, not just quantity.

Now it is not just the middle-aged who drink whisky, but also the young, Zhu Danpeng, a Chinese food industry analyst, told Yicai Global. The middle-aged appreciate the attention and care that has gone into the brewing process, while the younger generations are attracted to the brands’ novelty factor.

Whisky imports surged 60.9 percent in the first half from the same period last year to 13.93 million liters, according to the Wine and Spirits Importers and Exporters Branch of the China Chamber of Commerce of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-products. The value of the imports more than doubled to USD200 million.

As a result, a number of foreign distillers have started to build factories in China. Diageo is building a CNY500 million (USD78.2 million) distillery in southwestern Yunnan province and France’s Pernod Ricard is investing CNY1 billion (USD156.4 million) to build a plant in southwestern Sichuan province. Once in operation, they will produce some of the first single malt whiskies of Chinese origin.

Even Chinese brewery Tsingtao Brewery and cocktail maker Bairun have said they will start to make their own whiskies soon.

Editor: Kim Taylor