Champagne sales may go back 30 years

 

Pol Roger CEO Laurent d’Harcourt

Champagne sales in 2020 “may go back to where they were 30 years ago,” says Pol Roger CEO Laurent d’Harcourt. He made his comments on the current state of the champagne market during last weeks’ zoom tasting for the launch of Pol Roger 2013. A launch which, according to Pol’s UK MD James Simpson MW, represents “a return to proper, old fashioned vintage Pol with a proper backbone”. (To be reviewed on the What I’ve Been Tasting page shortly).  

“The crisis we find today is worse for those brands involved in nightclubs, in bars, on airlines or duty-free and we are not exposed much in these sectors,” says d’Harcourt. “Generally, we are likely to see a decline of between 20-25%, perhaps 30% for some, but at Pol we expect to be around 10% down on a very good 2019. We aren’t too involved in restaurants and by-the-glass sales either, where you have to be very aggressive on price.”

While champagne sales generally may go back to 1990 levels – when shipments were at 232.4m bottles as the market headed into a slump for five years following the oil crisis, before restarting a long and steady period of growth in the mid-1990s – “at Pol Roger we’re only going back a few years, to the level in 2018,” d’Harcourt added. “We are befitting from the decision not to grow too much or too rapidly over the past few years and we are very happy about that today.”

The July and August figures for worldwide Champagne shipments continue to show a very slight improvement on the poor results in April and May 2020, as the sales decline softened in some markets with the summer easing of restrictions. While the monthly figure for July was down 11.8% on July 2019 in France, in August domestic shipments rose 15.3%. In the first 8 months of 2020 shipments to France are down 21% and while the decline is slowing – it was -25.8% January-July and -29.2% in the first six  months – this already represents a loss of some 14.5m bottles. And champagne sales are heavily weighted towards the final quarter of the year.

France still accounts for around 49% of shipments by volume, if rather less by value, although its share of the overall market has been declining steadily since 2010. The Champenois will be more concerned about the drop in exports, with those shipped within the wider European market down 27.8% in the first eight months of 2020, a loss of 10.5m bottles and shipments to further flung destinations, the USA, Japan and Australia being the three most significant, dropping 28.3% January to August, a further loss of just over 14m bottles.

At the moment the MAT figure in the 12 months to the end of August records a drop of 40.54m bottles but in fact the market is down 39.02m bottles in the first eight months of 2020, and the last four months of the year typically accounts for around half the annual shipments. So, if the market doesn’t decline beyond 1990 levels, there will be some relief in Champagne.

Early conversations with the major brands in the UK (a detailed report on this will follow soon on the site), suggests those who have kept faith in the UK consumers’ predilection for this singular French fizz will be vindicated, and Pol is of course among them. It remains their number one export market.

“We are very happy to have a strong presence and a strong team in the UK, most of our markets are quite solid,” says d’Harcourt. “The wines are on allocation, including in the UK. This year because of the decrease in sales in France, we can be more positive in response to requests [for more stock] from some of these smaller, solid markets.”    

June shipments figures show slight improvement

Stock levels in Champagne’s cellars are currently high

The June figures for Champagne shipments show a slight improvement on the poor results in April and May 2020, as sales picked up in some markets. But the monthly shipment figure of 15.8m bottles, was still Continue reading “June shipments figures show slight improvement”

Champagne fails to agree 2020 yield amid “worst crisis since WW2”

By Giles Fallowfield, Published by Harpers online:  24 July, 2020
https://bit.ly/340BmIb 

The two presidents of the CIVC, Jean-Marie Barillère, president of the UMC and (left) Maxime Toubart, president of the SGV

The Champenois are in disarray as efforts to reach agreement on the level of yield for the 2020 harvest failed at a recent meeting of the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) in Epernay.

The two sides of the business, the négociant merchants on the one hand, Continue reading “Champagne fails to agree 2020 yield amid “worst crisis since WW2””

Champagne in turmoil

Giles Fallowfield explains the background to the extraordinarily difficult decision these two warring officials in Champagne are expected to announce later today.
My copy as it appeared on JancisRobinson.com on the morning of 22 July 2020 (https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/champagne-turmoil ) Guest contributor 22 Jul 2020

The two presidents of the CIVC, Jean-Marie Barillère, president of the UMC and (right) Maxime Toubart, president of the SGV


Champagne shipments slumped in April and May as the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has hit worldwide sales. Champagne’s governing body the CIVC (the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne or Continue reading “Champagne in turmoil”

Comité tries to predict demand in difficult market

Yield for 2019 harvest set at 10,200kgs/ha

Champagne producers agreed to set the maximum yield level for the 2019 harvest at 10,200kilos per hectare, 600kgs/ha down on the base level of 10,800kgs/ha originally* announced for the 2018 harvest. If this level of yield is achieved in 2019, it will produce around 300m bottles.

Stocks have built up in the cellars of Reims and Epernay

The CIVC Comité that represents the two sides of the champagne business — the (grape) growers and the merchant houses (négociants) – see this as the appropriate level to provide a suitable supply of Continue reading “Comité tries to predict demand in difficult market”

Champagne shipments fall as exports overtake French domestic consumption in 2018

Worldwide Champagne shipments dropped by 1.8% in 2018, falling some 5,523,085 bottles from 307,379,350 to 301,856,265. This is the lowest level since 2009, when the market suffered a significant fall in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis dropping to 293.3m bottles, and close to the level in 2004 of 301.4m bottles, though at Continue reading “Champagne shipments fall as exports overtake French domestic consumption in 2018”

Champagne shipments rise fractionally only

Champagne shipments has risen very slightly compared to the 306.096 bottles reached in 2016, rising by 0.52% or around 1.6m bottles to 307.7m bottles in 2017. At the end of November 2017 shipments were in line to rise to around 311m bottles and even the Union des Maisons de Champagne (UMC) was predicting 310m bottles. But sales in December, usually the busiest month in the year, fell back generally by around 10%, on the same month in 2016.

The news follows a difficult harvest in 2017, when the general quality, particularly of the Continue reading “Champagne shipments rise fractionally only”

UK champagne shipments fall 14% in value in 2016

Champagne shipments to the UK in 2016 were down 8.68% in volume, falling from 34.2m to 31.2m bottles and 14.03% in value, dropping from €512.2m to €440.4m, the detailed figures just released by the Comité Champagne reveal. This was the largest percentage drop in value among all the top ten export markets, only five of which showed any volume growth in 2016, with shipments to the USA rising the most, up 6.33%, although the value of the 21.8m bottles shipped to the USA only rose by 4.9%.

The fairly dramatic fall in the value of UK shipments, Continue reading “UK champagne shipments fall 14% in value in 2016”

Champagne market slows in 2016

Champagne shipments in 2016 were down 2.1% at 306,036,369 bottles, a little over 6.5m bottles below the level reached in 2015, according to the statistics released by the CIVC. This is just above the 304,994,000 bottles shipped in 2013, the poorest recent year, although immediately after the financial market meltdown only 293,331,000 bottles were shipped in 2009.

The French market declined further, Continue reading “Champagne market slows in 2016”

2016 Champagne harvest yield set to produce around 315m bottles

The yield for the 2016 harvest, currently expected to begin around mid-September, has been set at 9,700 kilos per hectare with a further 1,100kgs/ha to be taken from the reserve at the start of February next year. This level of yield will potentially produce around 283m bottles with a further 32m bottles coming from the reserve next February, if appropriate, making a total production of 315m bottles. This compares with worldwide champagne shipments of 312.5m in 2015 and the news that the MAT total for shipments in the 12 months to the end of June 2016 were up just over 2%.

The harvest is expected to start in mid-September
The harvest is expected to start in mid-September

However, after a very difficult growing season in Champagne so far this year with frosts, disease and uneven flowering all reducing the actual potential yield from the 2016 harvest, it seems likely Continue reading “2016 Champagne harvest yield set to produce around 315m bottles”