Baileys sets sights on Chinese market

BAILEYS is now targeting China as a potential lucrative market for its world famous Irish cream liqueur.

This was confirmed at Virginia Agricultural Show in Co Cavan yesterday when entries from some of the country’s top herds competed in the Baileys dairy cow championship.

Some 2,260 glasses of Baileys are consumed every minute of every day in at least 130 countries worldwide. Retail sales of the product are now estimated to be valued at over £1 billion (€147bn).

Global public relations director with R and A Bailey Peter O’Connor, said China has now emerged as a massive opportunity for the product, which accounts for 55% of all spirits exported from Ireland.

“The key factor is that young adult Chinese women love the taste of Baileys and they have no hang-ups with the western style of drinking. They are more open to a wide range of alcohol than their menfolk,” he said.

Mr O’Connor said the potential market for Baileys in China over the next 10 years is three million cases a year.

“It is a huge market,” he said, confirming Baileys, a key part of the Diageo brand portfolio, has full marketing and sales teams focused on achieving that target.

Some 275 million litres of milk supplied by Glanbia from 40,000 cows on 1,750 farms go into the making of the cream for Baileys liqueur every year.

Originally, the cream for the product, the number one liqueur in the world, could be met from the surplus of the Dublin domestic milk market.

But increased sales called for just about the same amount of milk as the annual requirement of the entire city of Dublin, and demand is still rising.

The role of Baileys in the overall €2.5bn Irish dairy industry was praised at the show, which Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan and food industry leaders attended.

She said part of the Baileys success story can be attributed to the quality of the cream used in its production.