Fresh on the heels of a rosy study of wine consumption patterns in the United States by the Wine Market Council, a slightly similar examination by Europeans of leading global wine and spirits markets confirms the first study’s findings: the worldwide wine industry is growing robustly and that it will continue to grow into the next decade, with key expansion taking place in the U.S.
The study by the London-based International Wine and Spirit Record is the fifth of its kind conducted on behalf of Vinexpo, a Bordeaux-based trade association, and key findings about the examined 2001-to-2010 timeframe is that wine sales will increase by 45%, while production will increase by 41%. “This is the key finding,” said Robert Beynat, CEO of Vinexpo, who presented the study’s outcome in New York. “It means demand exceeds supply. It also means that any wine surplus should be eliminated.”
Relative to the 28 countries measured in the study, the United States appears to be the most thirsty for wine. Whereas the Wine Market Council suggested that the U.S. will be the world’s number one consumer of wine by 2008, the Vinexpo study concedes that this will indeed occur, but not until 2010. Either way, the U.S. will soon be the world’s largest wine market (presently it is third, behind France and Italy).
Other key conclusions from the study include:
- Total retail sales of still and sparkling wine were $107 billion worldwide in 2005; spirits sales for the same year were $170 billion. Wine consumption in the U.S. grew by 20% between 2001 and 2005. By 2010, as the world’s largest wine consumer, the U.S. will drink 12.3% of all wine made.
- The U.S. is already the world’s largest sales market: $19 billion in sales in 2005.
- In 2005, China (10) and the Russian Federation (8) entered the Top 10 among wine-consuming nations.
- Global wine consumption increased 4.2 percent between 2001 and 2005; it is expected to increase another 4.8% by 2010.
- The leading growth categories for spirits are tequila, Cognac and vodka; gin is the only spirits category in decline.
For a copy of the study or more information, email vinexpo.usa@sopexa.com.
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Published: February 7, 2007
