(Yicai Global) Feb. 17 -- Foreign distillers, including owners of brands Martell and Johnnie Walker, expect demand to further improve after posting better-than-expected financial results in China in 2022 despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pernod Ricard China, as well as its core brands Martell and The Glenlivet, achieved double-digit sales growth in the peak season around the Mid-Autumn Festival in September and National Day in October, the Chinese arm of the French liquor giant said yesterday in its earnings report for the six months ended December. The rebound makes the firm more optimistic about the Chinese market, it added.

China is becoming increasingly important for foreign alcohol giants with a new generation of consumers and diversified preferences, according to industry insiders. There is room for new players as the current penetration rate of overseas alcohol brands in China is only 3 percent, according to public data.

London-headquartered Diageo revealed that sales of its Scotch whisky surged by a fifth in the first half of the fiscal year 2023, although its spirits business in China was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Diageo's business in China is predicted to maintain double-digit growth as the segments of Scotch whisky and Chinese baijiu are expected to rebound strongly, Ivan Menezes, chief executive of Diageo, said at an analyst meeting.

Remy Cointreau Group said it predicts the Chinese market to completely recover this year after a big jump in sales before the Lunar New Year. In the first half of the fiscal year 2023, sales in the Asia Pacific region rose by 22 percent from a year ago, the owner of brands Cointreau and Bruichladdich said.

The market is changing as products, including whisky, are gradually moving out of traditional sales channels such as bars and nightclubs, and more consumption scenarios, such as home drinking and social gatherings, are emerging, Yicai Global learned.

Whisky was an outlier in 2022 as imports of the liquor surged by 20 percent in value from 2021 whereas all imports of spirits slid amid the pandemic, according to data from the China Chamber of Commerce of I/E of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-products. In 2021, spirit imports soared by 67 percent from 2020.

Editor: Emmi Laine