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.