The Champenois are relieved to hear that champagne shipments rose very slightly in 2011, despite a fall in the important French domestic market that accounts for around 60% of all sales. Or as Michel Letter head of G.H. Mumm and Perrier-Jouët put it: “2011 was the third best year ever after 1999 and 2007 with total shipments reaching 323m bottles, up 1.09% on 2010, not bad considering the worldwide economic situation”.
Among the top ten export destinations only Britain, down 2.7% to 34.4m bottles and Spain (-0.3%) had a drop in shipments while Belgium and Germany both saw 8.5% growth. Although consumption in France was down nearly 2%, overall exports were up just over 5% to slightly above 141m bottles with the strongest performances coming outside Europe, notably in Australia, up nearly a third, and the USA ahead by 14.4% to 19.4m bottles.
The best performers in the emerging markets were Russia, China and Hong Kong with respective increases of 24.5, 19.4 and 15.1%, although the rate of growth slowed in the second half of 2011 and these three markets between them still only account for 4.1m bottles.