Champagne ships 323m bottles in 2011

Figures have just been released showing shipments for Champagne up 1% in 2011 to total almost 323 million bottles.

The resilience is a reflection of increasing Champagne consumption in markets such as the US, Germany, Belgium and Japan, as well as Australia, although Champagne’s biggest consumers, France and the UK, suffered declines.

France saw a 1.9% slip to 181,644,194 bottles and the UK was down 2.7% to 34,533,983 bottles – decreases which reflected lower end-of-year sales compared to Christmas 2010.

Nevertheless, Francoise Peretti, director of the UK Champagne Bureau, stressed Britain’s unwavering demand for the sparkling wine.

“2011 shipment figures show how strong the UK consumers’ love story with Champagne is,” she said.

“The UK market is virtually finishing the year at same level as 2010, which in the current economic climate is an achievement,” she added, pointing out that the UK is 78% ahead of the US, Champagne’s second largest export market.

Among Champagne’s top 20 largest export markets, the greatest increases came from Australia, up 31.9% to 4,862,783 bottles, followed by Russia, which enjoyed a 24.5% rise to 1,342,393 bottles.

Meanwhile, the Far East, as widely predicted, also saw surging shipments, with Singapore up 20% to 1,451,004 and China up 19.4% to 1,317,537 bottles.

More analysis of Champagne’s performance will feature in db’s annual Champagne report, which will be released at the Champagne Bureau’s UK tasting in London on 14 March.

Rank/Country    2011 exports    % change since 2010

France         181,644,194    bottles    -1.88%

Export         141,323,261    bottles    +5.18%

Total          322,967,455      bottles    +1.09%

1    UK         34,533,983      bottles    -2.7%

2    US         19,369,573      bottles    +14.4%

3    Germany    14,204,066  bottles    +8.5%

4    Belgium     9,559,836     bottles    +8.5%

5    Japan       7,963,898      bottles    +6.7%

6    Italy       7,636,562         bottles    +6.3%

7    Switzerland 5,685,394   bottles    +3.4%

8    Australia   4,862,783     bottles    +31.9%

9    Spain       3,678,927      bottles    -0.3%

10   Sweden      2,421,297   bottles    +6.6%

11   Netherlands  2,369,145  bottles    -4.3%

12   Canada      1,589,384    bottles    +12.6%

13   Singapore   1,451,004   bottles     +20%

14    Hong Kong  1,436,349    bottles    +15.1%

16    Russia     1,342,393        bottles    +24.5%

17    China      1,317,537        bottles     +19.4%

18    Austria    1,189,635        bottles      +7.2%

19    Brazil     1,050,696         bottles      +7.1%

20    Denmark   909,992         bottles      +1%