“It will harm”: Like many other French champagne wine growers, Christine Sevillano is directly concerned about entry into force on Thursday, August 7, the new American customs rights, while waiting for a result favorable to negotiations between Brussels and Washington.
The United States represents “almost 10%” of its turnover, explains to the AFP Christine Sévillano in a cellar in its area of eight hectares of organic certified vineyards in Vincelles, a small village in the Marne Valley (Northeast) where Miller dominates, one of the main champition grape varieties.
Their American importers “are in a kind of waiting, and look (…), they clearly expect the Trump administration to change course,” he adds to whom he is also president of the Federation of Independent Vinistros of Champagne.
Not helped by inflation in the United States
The impact “is already there” because for several months “, we feel that there is a slowdown and a significant relief (…), it is very clear that the orders [venant des États-Unis] More weird “, with other aggravating factors such as inflation, which weighs on US consumption, and on the decline in the dollar against the euro, says Christine Sevillano.
The United States is the first champagne export market, both in volume (around 10%) and in value (820 million euros, more than 14% of sales in the sector), according to the 2024 figures of the Champagne Committee, the interprofessional organization of the sector.
“Today, the impact of these customs tasks, of course, sounds in our operations, in our areas, in our business,” in Champagne, but also in the United States, where its economic impact “has not been well studied enough,” said Maxime Tourt, co -president of the Champagne Committee.
“It’s not the end of the world”
But the “good news” is that the negotiations continue between the European Union and the Trump administration, adds Maxime Tourt. The Federation of Wines and Spirits (FEV) also recalled that it was still waiting for an exemption from US duties for their sector.
For Philippe Cothenet, Undersecretary General of Champán CGT, the great producers of the most famous French sparkling wine are the most they complain: “15% [de taxes américaines]It can be absorbed, “provided it distributes the impact” at all stages of the rocket, “he thinks.” This is not the end of the world. “
The sales of the Champagne sector fell in 2024, but it was a certain standardization, because the sector had known record sales in 2022 and 2023, exceeding 6 billion euros, thanks in particular to the high increases in a post-cave context, reminds Philippe Cothenet.
“Our ambition is to remain very present” in the US market, “extremely important for us”, but there are also new markets to open, “adds the co -chair of the Champagne Committee, citing Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Source: BFM TV
