THE Chinese New Year, which lands today, marks the end of what has become for the whisky industry a prolonged festive season that began in November.
Previously distillers could sit down on January 3 and count up the Christmas and Hogmanay takings. Now they benefit from weeks of celebrations running from Thanksgiving in the United States in late November to the Spring Festival celebrated in China and many other parts of East Asia.
Christian Porta, chairman and chief executive of Pernod Ricard-owned Chivas Brothers, said: "For our Scotch whisky and premium gin business, which has a global reach, the seasonal period represents a two-month key selling period that stretches beyond just Christmas."
He added: "The Spring Festival in particular represents a major gift giving period across Asia. Scotch especially represents a luxurious gift with added prestige on these occasions."
Such has been the demand from Asia in particular that drinks giant Diageo has just started work on a new £5 million luxury products hall to sit alongside the £86m bottling plant it is installing at Leven in Fife. The move is expected to create up to 30 jobs at the company which saw a 25% rise in sales of the super-deluxe expressions of its Johnnie Walker brand in its last financial year.
The facility, which will open in the summer of 2012, is being built so that it can cater for demand from Asian customers who have been targeting top-end expressions. Industry figures show that around 90% of the Scotch whisky market in China is at what is classed a premium price.
A Diageo spokesman said: "This new bottling hall is to ensure we have the capacity to meet future demands, particularly the growth of our super deluxe Scotch whisky brands."
Smaller distillers are also expanding. Isle of Arran Distillers recently set out plans for a new warehouse that would increase storage capacity by 250% on the back of soaring export sales.
Whisky companies have been taking this expanded festive season increasingly seriously.
Mr Porta, whose company's range extends to prices above £1500 for Royal Salute 62 Gun Salute, said: "We deliver innovative gift offerings across all these celebrations."
Chivas Brothers is repeating its 2010 initiative of offering a specific Christmas Reserve edition of its Ballantine's whisky which boasts seasonal flavours such as cinnamon and orange and comes in a festive presentation box. It also launched a limited edition gift tin for the 12 year-old expression of Chivas Regal.
The changing geographic pattern of sales is clear. The value of whisky exports over the first nine months of 2011 totalled almost £3 billion – an increase of 23% on the same period of 2010.
Within this the value of exports to Asia totalled £659.6 million, up 28% on last year.
Exports to Singapore rose 51% last year to £221.8m, making it the third-biggest importer of whisky behind the US and France. It tends to serve as a distribution hub for the rest of the region and it is thought that much of the stock later makes its way to China.
Taiwan was worth £113.7m, up 46% on 2010. Shipments to South Korea, Japan, and directly to China are also large.
The pattern is seen in financial results from individual companies.
In the year to July, Diageo saw sales of its Johnnie Walker brand rise 16% in emerging markets in Asia even as world economic growth struggled to gather pace.
Meanwhile, at Pernod Ricard, emerging markets accounted for 38% of group profits in the last financial year. China is now Pernod's second-most profitable market, behind the US.
The Scotch Whisky Association estimates 10,300 people in Scotland are directly employed in the industry.
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