French alcohol exports weakened in 2024 as China weighed

By Sybille de La Hamaide

PARIS (Reuters) -French wine and spirits exports fell for a second consecutive year in 2024, hit by weaker demand for premium vintages as the industry grapples with lower prices, a softer Chinese market and threats of U.S. tariffs, industry group FEVS said on Tuesday.

Exports of French wines and spirits totaled 15.6 billion euros ($17.5 billion) last year, a 4% decline from 2023, despite stable volumes at 174 million cases of 12 bottles, the Federation of Wine and Spirits Exporters said.

China led the drop in value, with its imports down 20% year-on-year, while smaller markets Singapore and Hong Kong recorded falls of 25% and 12% respectively. With exports totalling 2.1 billion euros, the three accounted for 90% of last year's fall.

French spirits exports were hardest hit last year, falling 6.5% to 4.5 billion euros, largely due to China's economic struggles and Beijing's anti-dumping measures on European brandy, chiefly French cognac.

Cognac sales dropped 11% in value. However, volume dipped just 1%, supported by restocking in the United States and precautionary purchases amid fears of new U.S. tariffs on French wine, FEVS Chairman Gabriel Picard told Reuters ahead of the Wine Paris exhibition.

Producers have also attributed the gap between value and volume to a shift toward younger, cheaper cognac.

Wine and spirits shipments to the U.S., France's largest export market, rose 5% to 3.8 billion euros.

In the wine sector, volumes edged 0.7% higher, but revenue dropped 3% to 10.9 billion euros, weighed down by an 8% decline in Champagne sales. 

"For the coming year, we face two major uncertainties: China and the United States. However, there is a feeling that the worst is never certain," Picard said.

"In the United States if we set aside the risk of possible taxes, there are still relatively reassuring economic fundamentals," he said.

On China, he praised France's efforts to defend the Cognac sector but called for "concrete action" ahead of an expected visit by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou to ease trade tensions.

In Champagne, an expected global economic recovery and tighter stocks would benefit sales in 2025 but it was unlikely that exports would go back to their 2023 levels, Champagne houses head David Chatillon told Reuters.

($1 = 0.8916 euros)

(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Jan Harvey and David Evans)