Champagne exports catch up with French domestic consumption as value grows

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 22 February, 2018

Shipments of Champagne abroad caught up with domestic sales last year, new figures from the Champagne Bureau UK show.

While the French market was down by 2.5% with 153.7 million bottles, a “steeper drop than expected due to a disappointing month of December”, according to Maxime Toubart, president of the Syndicat Général des Vignerons (SGV) and co-president of Comité Champagne, total sales of Champagne reached 307.3 million bottles in 2017 – a rise of 0.4% on 2016.

Last year was also the year that exports caught up with domestic sales: shipments abroad to places like the UK rose by 3.5% over the course of the year, amounting to 153.6 million bottles.

Jean-Marie Barillère, president of the Union des Maisons de Champagne (UMC) and co-president of Comité Champagne, was pleased with the figures, which amounted to an increased value opportunity and a “record turnover of 4.9 billion euros".

Growth drivers were confirmed as markets outside of the European Union (which declined 1.3% to 76.6 million bottles).

Non-EU markets now exceed the EU and recorded an increase of nearly 9% last year to reach 77 million bottles.

Export data by country is due to be released at Prowein on March 18.

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