Six Things About the French Rum Industry

When it comes to French rum, most enthusiasts’ awareness starts and stops with the fact that Martinique and Guadeloupe make rums from sugarcane juice. Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll find a far more complex story, unknown but to a few people. In what follows, I’ll lay out a much more detailed perspective on France’s rum industry, which includes a few surprises—even for many rum experts.

Note: While the French call it rhum, the English version of that word is rum. Since this is an English-language article, I shall use rum.

Background

Most Caribbean and Latin America rum-making is in independent states like Jamaica, Barbados, Panama, and Venezuela. However, Martinique, Guadeloupe [i], and Guyane (aka French Guiana), also make substantial amounts of rum, yet they are regions of France. Legally they are no different than regions within France, e.g., Paris, Normandy, or Burgundy. It’s akin to how Hawaii is a full member of the United States, despite being several thousand kilometers from the U.S. mainland.

Furthermore, Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, also makes rum at a significant scale yet flies below the radar of most casual rum drinkers.

In more precise terms, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane, and Réunion are French departments, equal in every way to the 96 departments in mainland France. In French legalese, these overseas departments are collectively referred to as départements d’Outre-mer, abbreviated as DOM.

As French departments, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane, and Réunion are subject to national regulations and control over their sugar and rum industries. Naturally, much of what applies to one department applies equally to the others.

1) Cane Juice versus Molasses Rums

Within the rum world, the French Caribbean is famous for its cane juice rum – rhum agricole in French. The agricole rums of Martinique and Guadeloupe receive the lion’s share of attention for French-made rum. However, cane juice rums haven’t supplanted molasses rums to the extent you might guess. In fact, France makes more molasses-based rum than agricole rum, which may surprise some people.

Agricole/Industriel/ Traditionnel Terminology

The French term for cane juice rums is agricole—agricultural in English. Molasses-based rums are often referred to as industriel (Industrial in English.)

French texts alternately refer to molasses rum using the term sucrerie. In this context, it means sugar refinery rum, i.e., molasses-based. Unfortunately, an alternate English-language translation for sucrerie is candy or sweets. Google Translate seems to prefer the latter meaning, so French documents translated into English confusingly refer to “candy rum” or similar. It doesn’t mean sweetened rum. Instead, it means rum that could come from a sugar factory, i.e., molasses rum.

With agricole and industriel defined, we turn to a third term in common use, which many people misunderstand: rhum traditionnel.

In a French legal context, rhum traditionnel refers to both cane juice and molasses rums from French departments. Unfortunately, many descriptions of French rum claim that traditionnel refers exclusively to molasses rum, basically, a synonym for industriel. However, France and the European Union do not differentiate whether it was made from cane juice or molasses in most contexts.

Proof of this point can be found in the 2018 French decree defining the quotas for its territories and uses the terms Traditionnel agricole and Traditionnel de sucrerie.

The English language version of Regulation (E.U.) 2019/787 states:

In the case of geographical indications registered under this Regulation, the legal name of rum may be supplemented by:

• the term ‘traditionnel’ or ‘tradicional’, provided that the rum in question:
• has been produced by distillation at less than 90 % vol., after alcoholic fermentation of alcohol-producing materials originating exclusively from the place of production considered, and
• has a volatile substances content equal to or exceeding 225 grams per hectolitre of 100 % vol. alcohol, and
• is not sweetened;

(ii)           the term ‘agricultural’, provided that the rum in question complies with the requirements under point (i) and has been produced exclusively by distillation after alcoholic fermentation of sugarcane juice. The term ‘agricultural’ may only be used in the case of a geographical indication of a French Overseas Department or the Autonomous Region of Madeira.

To briefly summarize the above, traditionnel rum must:

• Be obtained sugarcane-derived materials exclusively from the place of production
• Distilled to less than 90 percent ABV
• Have volatile substances of at least 225 gr/hlAA.
• Not be sweetened

It’s important to note that the middle two requirements (distillation strength and minimum volatile content) clearly differentiate traditionnel rum from “light” rums distilled to near neutrality at higher strength.

2) The French Rum Market – Who Makes What?

It’s often said that the French transition to rhum agricole began in the 1880s when Martinique planters found it unprofitable to export their sugar. Hence, they started making rum directly from cane juice. While this is true, it understates how long it took for agricole rum to overtake molasses rum on Martinique. And on Guadeloupe, molasses rum still holds a slight lead over agricole.

While agricole is what comes to mind for most people when they think of French rum, the reality is that except for Martinique, France’s three large-scale rum-making departments tilt towards molasses rum. This French government data from 2019 makes it quite clear: [ii]

Production in 2019	Guadeloupe (LAA)	Martinique (LAA)	La Réunion (LAA)
Rhum Agricole	42,700	79,500	700
Rhum Industriel	44,500	10,500	131,300
Rhum agricole %	48.9%	88.3%	0.5%
Total rum production	87,200	90,000	132,000

Note:   Note: The report does not include data from Guyane (French Guiana), presumably because its rum output is minuscule.

In brief, La Réunion makes substantially more rum than either Martinique or Guadeloupe, and 99.5 percent of La Réunion’s rum is molasses-based. Martinique and Guadeloupe make roughly the same amount of rum. But while Martinique skews heavily towards agricole rum, Guadeloupe makes roughly equal amounts of agricole and molasses rum.

It’s worth noting that while most of the agricole rum goes into premium, distillery branded products, a substantial amount of the molasses rum goes is sold as bulk rum or goes into blends like Bardinet branded rum.

3) Quotas & Subsidies

A few world powers like France, the U.K., and the U.S. have sought to aid their former or current territories by giving them economic advantages in specific markets, e.g., the European Union. In the case of France, it has long had a reduced rate of excise taxes on rum from its overseas departments. What follows in this section is a very simplified overview of a very complex topic.

France is part of the E.U., and the E.U. dictates a set excise tax due for each liter of spirits (including rum) made or imported into a European Union country. However, with the E.U.’s approval, France can charge a lower excise tax rate on a portion of the rum made in its overseas territories and sold in the French market. This means a lower tax bill for French rum makers, giving them a price advantage in the French market—relative to non-French rums, which don’t get tax breaks.

However, the tax reductions enjoyed by French overseas producers are subject to quota limits and compliance with provisions laid down in their geographical indications and “Rhum traditionnel” definition. That is, only a predefined amount of their exported receives a lower excise tax rate. Anything a rum producer exports to the E.U. over its quota limit pays the full excise tax rate. Since mainland France is the largest importer of French overseas rum, the quotas are very important to their rum makers.

Since 1995, the European Union has decreed an upper limit on how much French overseas department rum receives the lower excise tax rate. Every few years, the quota may be adjusted.  Currently, it’s set at 153,000 hectoliters of pure alcohol (PAH). That is 15.3 million liters of alcohol at 95 percent ABV. If it were to all be diluted to 40% ABV for bottling in 700ml bottles, it would fill around 52 million bottles.

To receive the lower tax rate, the rum must meet minimum requirements for strength and volatile substances; these are the same levels detailed in their geographical indications.

Each department has its own share of the overall E.U. quota. For example, Martinique currently has around 45 percent of the overall 153,000 PAH quota (~68,800 PAH), while Guadeloupe has 35 percent (53,500 PAH). Each department further subdivides its quota allotment across its rum makers in very rough proportion to their overall contribution to their territory’s output.

In 2018, new quotas values were set out for all French overseas departments.[iii] The quotas for Martinique agricole distilleries were distributed as follows:

Distillery	Brand Name	2018 Quota (PAH)	% Of agricole quota
Saint-James	Saint-James	14,716.85	27.9%
Depaz	Depaz	14,019.52	26.6%
BBS (Bellonie and Bourdillon)	La Mauny	11,576.84	21.9%
Simon	Simon	8,674.20	16.4%
H. Crassous (SCA)	J.M	2,539.52	4.8%
Neisson	Neisson	666.67	1.3%
Dormoy	La Favorite	495.5	0.9%
Rex	A1710	100	0.2%

The quota for Le Galion, Martinique’s only molasses rum maker:

Distillery	Brand Name	2018 Quota (PAH)	% Of molasses quota
SAEM	Le Galion	11,327.78	100.0%

Guadeloupe’s agricole makers have the following quotas:

Distillery	Brand Name	2018 Quota (PAH)	% Of agricole quota
Bellevue Moule	Damoiseau	4843.75	28%
Bellevue MG	Domaine de Bellevue	3784.27	22%
Bologne	Bologne	2824.26	17%
Montebello	Montebello	1265.94	7%
Bellevue Ste Rose	Reimonenq	1103.18	6%
Severin	Severin	834.92	5%
Bielle	Bielle	783.68	5%
Esperance Capesterre	Longuteau, Karukera	783.68	5%
Poisson	Père Labat	783.68	5%

Guadeloupe has three quotas for molasses rum, comprising 67 percent of Guadeloupe’s combined quota:

Distillery	Brand Name	2018 Quota (PAH)	% Of molasses quota
SRMG		7058	20%
Gardel [iv]		7533.62	22%
SIS (Bonne Mère distillery)	Darboussier / Ducarbet	19931.14	58%

Reunion has three quotas for molasses rum:

Distillery	Brand Name	2018 Quota (PAH)	% Of overall quota
ISAUTIER	Isautier	3174.19	11.6%
SAVANNA	Savanna	7404.03	27%
RIVIERE DU MAT	Rivières du Mât	16774.78	61.3%

While the quotas for each producer give a very crude idea about the relative production of each distillery, they should not be relied on for any detailed comparisons of production output or capacity. First and foremost, distilleries can make more rum than their quota specifies. (However, anything they export to the E.U. in excess of the quota is subject to the regular tax rate.) Also, it’s worth noting that some French rums are exported outside the E.U.

Within a department, distilleries that are part of the same economic interest group can redistribute their quota between members. For example, Saint James and Depaz are owned by the same company but have two quotas —one for each distillery. Thus, the company that owns them has the option to reassign a portion of one distillery’s quota to the other.

The per-department quotas are also subject to intense lobbying and infighting. Each department naturally seeks the largest share of the overall “pie” divided up by the CIRT-DOM decision-makers. In recent years, Guadeloupe has made the case that Martinique receives a disproportionately large share of the overall quota allotment. Martinique’s producers disagree, naturally.

4) Regulations – AOCs and G.I.s

Although Martinique’s appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) for rhum is arguably the best-known rum regulation, all French overseas rum-making departments have internationally recognized Geographical Indications.

The European Union has three different levels of Geographical Indication. A Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) is the most restrictive and most challenging to obtain. One level down is the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).

Martinique’s AOC is a PDO, so at the top-tier. However, Martinique also has a separate PGI for its molasses-based rum made at the Le Galion distillery (Rhum de la sucrerie de la Baie de Galion)

Guadeloupe has a PGI (Rhum de Guadeloupe), which is less restrictive, allowing for both molasses and cane juice rums, and a broader range of distillation apparatus. Guyane also has a PGI for its rum (Rhum de la Guyane), as does La Réunion (Rhum de La Réunion).

In total, France has seven rum geographical indications :

• Rhum de Martinique (AOC)
• Rhum de la sucrerie de la Baie de Galion
• Rhum de Gaudeloupe
• Rhum de La Re Réunion
• Rhum de Guyane
• Rhum de Antilles Françaises
• Rhum des Départements Français d’Outre Mer

5) Organizations and Regulatory Agencies

The French are no strangers to regulations and regulatory bodies. It’s helpful to know some of them to better understand the French Caribbean rum industry, so let’s review them.

At the local level, CODERUM (Comité Martiniquais d’organisation et de défense du marché du rhum) represents the local rum producers of Martinique.

Martinique also has SDAORAM (Syndicat de Défense de l’Appellation d’Origine “Rhum Agricole Martinique”), which encompasses the agricole rum distilleries and the cane farmers that supply them. It’s 1992 inception was in part driven by the desire to finally push the island’s AOC over the finish line.

There is also reportedly a CODERUM in Guadeloupe, although reports are that most of the island’s producers instead belong to SRIG (Syndicat des rhumiers indépendants de Guadeloupe).

At the national level, CIRT-DOM (Conseil interprofessionnel du rhum traditionnel des départements d’outre-mer) oversees four aspects of the rum industries in all of France’s overseas departments: cane planters, sugar mills, rum makers, and trading.

6) COFEPP (Compagnie Financière Européenne de Prises de Participation)

When it comes to French rum, one company dominates the landscape: Compagnie Financière Européenne de Prises de Participation, mercifully usually referred to as just COFEPP.

COFEPP is France’s second-largest spirit company behind Pernod-Ricard. However, most people know of it via the products of its subsidiaries: Bardinet and La Martiniquaise. COFEPP is also the majority shareholder of Marie-Brizard.

COFEPP’s rum-related holdings comprise the largest percentage of rum production on Martinique, Guadeloupe, and La Réunion. In fact, when COFEPP proposed to purchase its competitor Quartier Français Spiritueux in 2011, the deal came to the attention of the French Competition Authority. [v] The deal was eventually approved, but COFEPP was required to sell off certain assets, including Bellonie Bourdillon Successeurs (BBS), the parent company of Martinique’s La Mauny distillery, now owned by Campari.

On Martinique, COFEPP owns the Saint-James and Depaz distilleries, as well as certain aspects of the Le Galion sugar factory and distillery.

On Guadeloupe, COFEPP owns three distilleries. SIS. Bonne Mère and Sucrerie Rhumerie de Marie-Galante, the two largest distilleries in the department, both making molasses rum. The third distillery is Bellevue Marie-Galante, a large agricole rum distillery. COFEPP is also a shareholder in Guadeloupe’s two sugar factories.

On La Réunion, COFEPP owns Rivière du Mât, likely France’s largest rum distillery, and certainly the largest on La Réunion. It’s capable of making around 9 million LAA annually.

COFEPP’s rum portfolio includes Saint-James, Depaz, Dillon, Bally, Bellevue, Rivière du Mât, Negrita, Old Nick, and Galion. It also owns Aguacana, a cachaça brand. The company’s non-rum portfolio includes Cutty Sark, Glen Moray, and numerous other alcoholic beverage brands.

Disclaimer

The information above was collected from a wide variety of sources. As much as possible, it was cross-checked with other sources. Official government documents are the primary source, whenever possible. The data has been reviewed by French experts in the rum field. Nonetheless, errors may exist. Please contact me if you believe something is incorrect.

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[i] The island of Marie Galante is legally part of the department of Guadeloupe.

[ii] François-Xavier Deniau, et al,  Perspectives de la filière canne-sucre-rhum-énergie en outre-mer, Inspection générale des Finances, 2021

[iii] Arrêté du 13 juin 2018 portant répartition entre les distilleries du contingent d’exportation de rhum traditionnel et relatif à la gestion de ce contingent NOR : MOMS1803753A

[iv] While Gardel has a quota, it does not distill rum. Instead, its molasses goes to SIS for distillation.

[v] Décision n° 11-DCC-187 du 13 décembre 2011 relative à la prise de contrôle exclusif de la société Quartier Français Spiritueux par la Compagnie Financière Européenne de Prise de Participation