Drinks Cluster
The drinks industry makes a significant contribution to the Welsh economy, with a turnover in excess of £800m, a Welsh retail sales value of over £950m and employing 1,200 people.
The Welsh drinks industry is broad and complex with diverse sub-sectors including beer, cider, wine, spirits, bottled water, soft drinks, fruit juice, hot drinks, dairy and non-dairy drinks.
Company size and scale ranges from micro to large international companies.
Businesses from each of the drinks sub-sectors come together under the Drinks Cluster umbrella to form Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and work collaboratively across the strategic projects.
Each Special Interest Group has an identity and marketing strategy tailored to each sector’s positioning and needs. The four Special Interest Groups are:
- Beer and Cider
- Wine
- Spirits
- Non-Alcoholic Drinks
Whilst the Special Interest Groups identify actions to address the strategic priorities of their respective sectors, there are some cross-cutting actions which the Drinks Cluster will implement, such as:
- Enabling and increasing innovation to produce distinctive and quality drinks
- Supporting the scale-up of high potential drinks businesses
- Building Welsh brands at home and abroad
- Improving skills and knowledge across the industry to improve innovation and quality.