Champagne sales and exports are expected to come under pressure from inflation this year, as well as a return to normalized consumption after record sales in the past two years, spurred by the lifting of restrictions linked to the COVID pandemic. -19, as announced by the producers. On Wednesday.
Champagne shipments are expected to approach 314 million bottles by 2023, French inter-branch group Comité champagne said in a statement. They reached a record 326 million last year.
In the first half of the year, shipments fell 4.7% to 125.8 million bottles, compared with the same period last year, according to the committee.
Sales abroad reached 77.7 million bottles in the first six months of the year, 3.7% less, while France registered a decrease of 6.3% with
48.1 million bottles.
“Back to normal”
“The drop in shipments, for France, is attributed to inflation, a spokesperson for the Champagne Committee told Reuters. For export, it is difficult to say because the comparisons are for the year 2022, which was a year in which exports were very high in the first half of the year. We prefer to think that after the post-COVID “party”, the situation becomes more normal.”
Champagne producers expect sales to stay about the same over the next three years, averaging 315 million bottles, he said.
The grape harvest in Champagne, which is due to start in September, bodes well with beautiful, shapely grapes, frost, hail and mold causing little damage this season, even if groundwater levels remain a concern.
The Champagne Committee has set the commercial yield for 2023 at 11,400 kilograms per hectare compared to 12,000 kg/ha in 2022.
Source: BFM TV
