Politics sees French bubbly going flat
Print Edition
Brexit and France’s “yellow vest” protest movement pushed the number of bottles of French champagne sold last year to its lowest since 2004, trade group data showed yesterday.
The Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne said the number of bottles sold fell 1.8 percent to 302 million in 2018.
But total revenue edged up 0.3 percent to a record 4.9 billion euros (US$5.6 billion).
“The fall in volume is becoming a bit worrying, with the slowdown in France and Britain not compensated by higher sales outside the European Union,” said CIVC co-president Jean-Marie Barillere.
French and UK sales together account for about 60 percent of total volume. French sales fell 4.2 percent to 147 million bottles, with more bottles sold abroad than in France for the first time in 100 years, as a slow economy and the “yellow vest” anti-government protest movement weighed on sales.
Barillere said the protests had hit Paris tourist arrivals and French household confidence, hurting demand.
Total export sales edged up 0.6 percent to nearly 155 million bottles, but total export revenue rose 1.8 percent to 2.9 billion euros as the focus on value of big houses, such as LVMH’s Moet & Chandon and Pernod Ricard’s Mumm, the world’s best-selling champagne, paid off.
In Britain, sales fell for the third year in a row.
That was due in part to uncertainty sparked by the country’s planned departure from the European Union.
Volume dropped 3.6 percent to 26.8 million bottles for total revenue of 406 million euros. Volume had already fallen 11 percent in 2017 and 9 percent in 2016.
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