By He Danlin
After two years of preparation, Pernod Ricard, a well-known whisky brands which owns Ballantine, Chivas, Royal Salute and Jameson, put its first whisky distillery into operation! It is the first spirit & wine manufacturer to build malt whisky distillery in China.
"We realize that malt whisky has a huge opportunity in Chinese market, so competitors are working to occupy market shares, and Pernod Ricard wants to be a leader in the market." Philippe Guettat, chairman and chief executive of Pernod Ricard Asia, told Foodinc that in the future, the whisky produced by the Diechuan malt whisky factory will also be sold to other markets around the world.
Clearly, Pernod Ricard pressurized the right chips. China's whisky consumption has shown high growth in recent years. In the past five years, China's whisky market has grown by 10%, of which malt whisky has grown by 30%. In addition, we have noticed that, especially young people in China, they have a very strong willingness to try new products and tastes," Qi Dehui told the Foodinc.