(12 November 2018) – This week wine lovers will be celebrating Beaujolais Nouveau day (15 November) – so it is an appropriate time to look at the latest data on the major wine exporters and importers in the European Union.
In 2017, the sold production of wine (including sparkling wine, port and grape must) in the EU was 14.6 billion litres. The largest wine producers were Spain, Italy and France, followed by Portugal, Germany and Hungary.
In 2017, the EU Member States exported €21.9 billion (bn) of wine. While almost half of this trade was between Member States, €11.3 bn of wine was exported outside the EU, mainly to the United States (32% of extra-EU exports), followed by China (10%), Switzerland (9%), Canada (8%), Japan and Hong Kong (both 7%).
With a trade worth €9.1 bn in 2017 (or 41% of the EU Member States’ total), France was by far the top exporter of wine, ahead of Italy (€6.0 bn, or 27%) and Spain (€2.9 bn, or 13%).
Looking at the import flows, the EU Member States imported a total of €12.9 bn of wine in 2017. Only 20% of this came from non-EU countries, notably from Chile (22% of extra-EU imports), Australia (17%), the United States (16%), New Zealand (14%) and South Africa (14%).
Among the EU Member States, the United Kingdom (€3.5 bn, or 27% of the EU Member States’ total) and Germany (€2.6 bn, or 20%) were by far the two main importers of wine in 2017.