Diageo Korea saw a leap in sales of its flagship whiskies last month as wholesalers rushed to boost their stockpiles prior to a price increase, industry figures showed Monday.

The shipment volume of Windsor topped 1.1 billion liters in March, up almost 40 percent from the combined volume in the preceding two months. The product is the top-selling whisky in the domestic market.

Johnnie Walker Black, another whisky distributed by the Korean unit of the London-based drinks group, also saw an 11.6 percent jump in shipment volume during the same period to more than 50 million liters.

The data comes as the distiller plans to raise the prices of Windsor by an average of 6 percent and Johnnie Walker Black by about 5 percent, starting Friday. Merchants therefore were trying to secure more inventories at a lower cost, industry watchers said.

Although no official announcement has been made, expectations of a price hike boosted sales of Imperial whiskies by Pernod Ricard Korea, Diageo’s archrival. The product’s shipments went up to nearly 414 million liters last month, a little less than the combined volume for January and February.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)