 The European Union has seen a significant drop in the consumption due to lower demand levels in the main consumer countries- France, Italy and Spain, and importing countries, Germany, the United Kingdom in Europe.
Affected by the downturn, global wine exchanges, with 81 million hL, show for the first time since 2000 a 3.6% drop in 2009 from the levels of the previous year. Among the biggest global exporters, the countries that saw the greatest decrease in the export levels because of the downturn are Argentina, the USA, Spain and France, whereas Italy, with an increase in exports of 18.6 million hL, strengthens its position as first global exporter.
The same is true for Chile and Australia, for which the 2009 wine exports show record volumes, through a significant increase of their bulk wines, at the expense of the average price per liter.
“The global wine market, relatively unscathed by the downturn, has seen a reversal in 2009; it's essentially due to a significant drop in demand in big producer, consumer and importer countries. However, the level on international wine exchange continues to be an important share of the 2009 global wine consumption, i.e. 36.4%; this means that over 3.5 bottles out of 10 were consumed outside their country of origin in 2009” explains Federico Castellucci, Head of OIV.
At 265 million hL the global wine production decreased by about 1.4 million hL in 2009. These levels were recorded in 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2008. Among the traditional European producers Spain and Germany show a significant decrease. However, France has known its biggest increase of wine production in 2009.
Chile and the USA have seen an important increase, whereas the production levels are decreasing in Brazil, Argentina, South Africa and Australia; production levels in Switzerland and in New Zealand have remained virtually unchanged since 2008.
Influenced by the European Union’s vineyard reduction program, the global surface reserved for wine production at 7.636 million hAs went down by 1.2% from 2008 to 2009. The EU’s vineyard area decreased in 2009 by a further 2.5% following the new communal program of definitive uprooting of vineyards, in the context of the common market organisation. The countries that are the most affected by this decrease are Spain, Italy and France.
Castellucci illustrated the impact of this drop by giving the example, ‘as if in 2009, the German vineyard had been uprooted, the Australians and the Danes no longer drank wine, the Portuguese did not export anything and the Swiss did not produce any wine”.
The International Organisation of Wine and Vineyards (OIV) is the scientific organisation and global reference for vineyards and related products. An inter-governmental organisation of 43 Member States, it aims to harmonize international viticulture standards, encourage scientific innovations in the industry, and identify y issues pertaining to the global wine industry through advice and recommendation. India has recently decided to join the organisation and hopefully should be accepted as a member after the due process. It will be the first Asian country to join the prestigious organisation.
For a detailed break-up for the countrywide consumption and production trends since 2002,
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