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Inflation and high taxes are driving Filipino drinkers to downgrade
their preference to less expensive varieties, the International
Wines and Spirits Association Inc. told The Manila Times.
“The sophisticated market for wines and
spirits is significantly shifting to lower-end imported drinks,
while middle class local drinkers are seen to go for local brands,
which are way less expensive,” Ralph Lim Joseph, president of the
association, said in an exclusive interview.
He said this is an effect of the higher prices
of basic necessities, including oil and construction materials.
Joseph is the president and chief operating
officer of Ralph’s Wines and Spirits, the country’s largest
family-owned retail wine and spirits company.
Ralph’s Wines and Spirits has the most
extensive selection of wines and spirits, including the world’s
most expensive brands such as Chateaux Margaux, which sells at
P125,000 a bottle.
Of the total drinking population, the high-end
local market only accounts for 1 percent of the industry’s growing
sales of P3 billion to P3.6 billion annually, Joseph said.
He added that Filipinos are easily intimidated
by the prices of imported alcoholic drinks even if they cost less
than P1,000 a bottle.
Joseph said wine and spirits retailers lean
toward Australian and South American brands since these are more
affordable, with prices starting at P300 to less than a thousand
pesos as opposed to European brands.
-- Katrina Mennen A. Valdez
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