Germany exported more wine year on year in the first quarter of 2024 despite ongoing pressure in the US, its largest market.
Volumes rose 9% in the opening three months of the year, with Germany shipping 283,000 hectolitres of wine, according to the Deutsches Weininstitut industry association.
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The value of export sales also grew 9%, reaching €92m ($98.3m).
In 2023, Germany exported just under 1.2 million hectolitres, down 2% on a year earlier. However, the value of the country’s wine exports rose in 2023, increasing 4% to €384m.
The Deutsches Weininstitut said exports to a clutch of markets including the Netherlands, Japan and Denmark rose at a “double-digit” rate in the first quarter of the year.
Sales to the US remained under pressure. Volumes exported to the US fell 10% in the first quarter to 33,000 hectolitres, contributing to a 12% decline in sales to €14m.
According to the Deutsches Weininstitut, US customers are continuing to work through stocks built during the pandemic.
Germany’s winemakers saw a mixed picture in the UK in the opening three months of 2024, when export revenues rose but volumes sank. The value of Germany’s wine exports to the UK rose 4% to €4.7m but volumes slid 20% to 14,600 hectolitres, the data showed.
In April, the Deutsches Weininstitut warned a cold snap in Germany had caused “great damage” to several winegrowing regions following higher temperatures in the first half of the month.
Wine production in Germany dropped by almost 4% last year, hit by weather conditions, according to government data.
According to figures from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), wine and must production fell by 3.9% to 8.6m hectolitres in 2023.
Figures issued by the International Organisation Of Vine and Wine in April showed global wine consumption fell 2.6% last year to 221m hectolitres.
Global wine exports fell 6.3% in volume to 99.3m hectolitres (the lowest recorded since 2010) In value terms, sales were down 4.7% to €36bn.
