USA overtakes Germany as the world's largest wine importer

As the largest import market in the world, the USA has overtaken Germany. While the USA increased by 3% to 14.4 million hl, Germany imported 9% less at 13.4 million hl. With a decline of 4%, Germany is one of the few markets that also spent less on its wine imports (€2.7 billion). In value, the USA (€7 billion, +17%) and the UK (€4.8 billion, +22%) are ahead of Germany.

In a first forecast for 2023, the OIV expects a significant decline in wine production in the southern hemisphere. According to this, Argentina and New Zealand will lose a fifth of the previous year's volume, Brazil almost 30%, and Australia is also expected to lose 13.1%. Losses are more moderate in South Africa, where the harvest is expected to be only slightly below average, with a drop of 6%. Only Chile could record a small increase of 1.3%. Overall, this would mean a drop of 6.1 million hl for the southern hemisphere compared to 2021.

Overall, Germany remains the fourth largest wine consuming market in the world with 19.4 million hl behind the USA (34 million hl), France (25,3 million hl) and Italy (23 million hl).
 

Chinese wine market continues to decline

The Chinese wine market showed a clear decline, falling by 16% to 8.8 million hl. OIV Director General Pau Roca emphasized that the Chinese market has been declining steadily for years and is weighing on global consumption. In 2018, 18.8 million hl were still sold in China. Analogously, Chinese wine production also gave way from 9.3 million hl in 2018 to 4.2 mill. hl in 2022.

Europe is the heart of global viticulture. The EU alone accounts for 60% of world wine production (Photo: Maksim Shebeko/stock.adobe.com)
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Vintage 2022: Average Volumes

World wine production in 2022 is again expected to be slightly below average, with differences between the individual winegrowing zones and countries. The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) forecasts global production of between 257.5 and 262.3m. hl of wine and must in 2022. There will be regional differences in harvest volumes, but the market surplus will remain (see HERE). Vincent Messmer reports.

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Unknown quantities of international viticulture

In contrast, Chinese vineyard area has increased, although growth has slowed. With 785,000 hectares, China ranks No. 3 in the world - ahead of Italy. However, similar to Turkey as No. 5 on the list with 410,000 hectares of vines, much of the grapes are not used for wine production. The diversity of viticulture is also evident in other nations. More vineyard area than Germany is also cultivated in India, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Iran.

The declining internationality of the global wine industry is also attributed by the OIV to ongoing supply chain disruptions and the effects of inflation. Despite the decline in volume, global trade value is higher than ever, it said.

The bottom line, according to Roca, is that the wine industry has proven to be very resilient during times of crisis. He pointed to the category of dealcoholized wines and sustainability as important new topics. In the case of dealcoholized wines, it was important to him that the context to the initial product, wine, was maintained and that there was no washing out through the addition of aromas. CG

Global Value (Source: OIV)
Global Value (Source: OIV)
Global Volume (Source: OIV)
Global Volume (Source: OIV)
Global Area under vines (Source: OIV)

If you’ve noticed in past years that there seemed to be less Australian wine in your local shop and on restaurant lists than you had seen previously, you were definitely on to something. As American taste declined for the jammy fruit bomb style of wine that Australia, and especially Barossa Valley, had become known for, a thirst for wine heated up in China, and the Australian wine industry shifted its efforts. About 95 percent of the wine from Australia sold in China was red, and in the last 10 years the country has increased its vineyard acreage and output of Merlot, Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Transferring its priority to China meant pulling product away from other markets, and when it came to wine, Australia had truly put all its eggs into the proverbial basket.

And then disaster struck. In April 2020, during the early stages of the global Covid-19 pandemic, Scott Morrison, who was Australia’s prime minister at the time, called for an investigation into the illness’s origin. Beijing considered this an insult, and in November 2020 the country struck back with a retaliatory tax on wine imports from Australia, causing what had become the country’s largest export market to dry up overnight. Currently, the duties are between 116.2 percent and 218.4 percent on bottled Australian wine imports in containers of 2 liters or less, which applies to all standard sized bottles and magnums.

According to Deirdre Cook, Wine Australia’s marketing manager in the United States, Australia exported 121 million liters of wine valued at AU $1.3 billion ($870 million USD) to mainland China in the year ending October 2020, before the tariffs were put in place. Most of that was higher value red wines. In the year ending December 2022, this had dropped by a startling 99 percent in value to AUD $12.4 million ($8.28 million USD) and 98 percent in volume to only three million litters.