MANILA – Tanduay has taken over the number one spot from a list of international rum brands that has long been dominated by Bacardi, which is now relegated to the second position with 16.8 million cases and McDowell’s No. 1 in the third place with 14.3 million cases sold.
“Our distinctly Filipino rum is now the world’s number one… We have a great product to offer the world and the world recognized it,” said Lucio Tan Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Tanduay Distillers Inc., in a press briefing held at Century Hotel, Manila.
“For the first time, a Philippine-made liquor brand has been ranked the top-selling rum by Drinks International. Tanduay has taken over the No. 1 spot from a list of international rum brands long dominated by Bacardi.”
In a report by Business World, Tanduay Distillers Inc. (TDI) Chief Financial Officer Nester Mendones said Tanduay sold 19.5 million cases of rum in 2017, up by 17 percent from the year before while former best-selling rum Bacardi sold 16.8 million cases in the same period, lower by three percent year-on-year. Mendones said the data came from the latest report of spirits trade magazine Drinks International.
Despite its global standing, Tanduay’s exports only account for less than one percent of the brand’s total sales, a number the company expects to grow in the next three to four years. The company is looking at strengthening its Tanduay Asia brand abroad. In October 2017, the company signed a two-year partnership deal with reigning NBA Champion Golden State Warriors.
Chief Financial Officer Nestor C. Mendones said: “If we could sell four to five million cases of Tanduay Asia abroad, we don’t have to sell locally any more. Because that alone will match what we sell locally. That’s the opportunity we are seeing in the export business.”
Since the acquisition of the Tanduay brand by the Lucio Tan group 30 years ago from the Elizalde family, plant modernization and expansion projects increased the distillery’s production capacity.
