May 31, 2004
Venezuelan rum aims to be toast of world's tipplers
By Silene Ramírez
(Reuters) - Already famous for its abundant oil and voluptuous beauty queens, Venezuela aims to make its smooth but heady amber rums the toast of liquor drinkers around the world.

Local distillers hope the creation by Venezuela's patents office of a "Venezuelan Rum" label of origin, which guarantees at least two years aging for the sugar cane spirit, will help their product double its share of the world export market.

"Mexico has its tequila, Cuba has its tobacco, Colombia has its coffee and Venezuela has three great products: oil, the most beautiful women in the world and the best rum in the world," said Alberto Vollmer, executive president of Ron Santa Teresa, a leading Venezuelan rum maker.

Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and its beauty queens have carried off more than 60 titles in international contests over the last few decades.

At present, Venezuela's best-known rum export brands are Cacique and Pampero, produced by local distillers DUSA and CILCA and sold by British drinks giant Diageo. These are the top-selling premium rum brands in Spain and Italy, according to Diageo.

Venezuelan rum is only the third national product to receive a formal denomination of origin from the patents office. The others are Chuao Cacao chocolate and Cocuy Pecayero, a fiery alcohol made from a local plant.

Using the new origin denomination, Venezuela's rum makers want to take on market giants like Puerto Rico-based Bacardi, the world's biggest producer, and Cuba's Havana Club brand marketed by French drinks maker Pernod Ricard. Venezuelan rum is amber while the international sales leader is white rum used in mixing cocktails.

"We are going to transform Venezuela into a big production center taking advantage of its master rum makers and its climate, which is ideal for high-quality aging," said Rafael Pedraza, public relations director for Diageo Venezuela.

Benevolent climate
Local rum makers say the combination of tropical humidity and cool winds that bathe Venezuela's sugar-cane fields helps to age the liquor faster than in other countries.

The change in temperature from day to night stimulates interaction between the alcohol distilled from cane juice and the wooden barrels in which it is stored, enhancing the taste "Venezuela is a blessed land situated at the north of South America where the winds don't tear us up but gently rock us, and gently rock our rums," said José Mandry, president of the Venezuelan Alcohols Chamber that groups most of the country's rum makers.
At the Santa Teresa rum refinery west of Caracas, one of the country's most famous, the white oak barrels in which the spirit is aged creak and groan in huge dark warehouses.

"The aging process inside the barrel is the magic of rum. The barrel acts like a lung, it breathes in the heat of the day and the cool winds of the night," said Sandra Rodríguez, head of processing at Ron Santa Teresa.

After at least two years in storage, the barrels are uncorked and an amber liquor of 70 degrees alcohol proof flows out.

Venezuelan law states that all cane alcohol must be aged for at least two years before it can be called a rum, one of the highest such standards applied in the world, Pedraza said.

Some other countries which do not demand these requirements sell unaged cane brandy as rum.

Export drive Mandry said Venezuela's rum makers aimed to double their exports in 2004 to 2.4 million cases, of between 8.4 and 9 liters each (2.2-2.4 gallons), from around 1.6 million cases last year. This would raise exports as a share of total sales to 73 percent from 59 percent.

Diageo, with its fast-selling Cacique and Pampero Venezuelan brands, handles nearly 96 percent of the country's total rum exports because it has opened up new markets, a strategy which other rum makers are seeking to follow.

"We are making a joint effort to establish a separate name for Venezuelan rum in the world liquor market," Pedraza said.

The global market consists of between 30 and 40 million cases of different category rums, separated according to their age.

Market leader Bacardi sells 20 million cases annually, mostly white rum used for mixing cocktails.

But Venezuela is the front-runner in the smaller market for "premium" rums, which totals around 5 million cases and is growing at a rate of around 25 percent a year, especially in Spain, Italy and the United States.

Venezuelan rum sales are rising fast as more and more discerning tipplers switch to quality aged rums from the mass-market whites, Pedraza said.

Additional information:
http://www.trade-venezuela.com/SEAGENG.HTM