World wine consumption has finally fallen less than the estimates of professionals in the sector for the year 2020. – congerdesign / Pixabay
The furniture is saved. Tuesday theInternational Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) announced that global wine consumption had fallen by 3% in volume in 2020. A significant decline but less than that feared by professionals in the sector given the scale of the Covid-19 crisis.
In October, the OIV had anticipated a drop in global wine sales of around 10% for 2020. And for good reason. This year was marked by confinements and closures of cafes, hotels and restaurants (CHR) but also by “Trump taxes” on certain European wines and Chinese taxes on Australian wines. Finally, this drop is now estimated at 234 million hectoliters, or 7 million hectoliters less over one year, as during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, said the Paris-based organization. This is the lowest wine consumption since 2002.
Consumption in bars and restaurants has “postponed”
“It was a little too negative a vision”, recognizes Pau Roca, Director General of the OIV. “The increase in wine sales in supermarkets has compensated quite well” for the closure of the CHR, he explains. “The Covid-19 has caused all kinds of transfers”, he notes. Already “between the distribution channels, consumption in bars and restaurants having shifted” to sales in supermarkets and online. “Transfers” between countries then: tourist destinations were affected by the absence of visitors, who therefore drank wine at home.
Finally, transfers between premium wines and inexpensive wines. Champagne was particularly penalized by health restrictions. Conversely, wine sold in cardboard packaging has been on the rise.
Consumption remained unchanged in France
The stability of wine consumption in the European Union (48% of the market) in 2020 hides strong variations depending on the country. Consumption remained unchanged in France but jumped in Italy by 7.5% compared to 2019, to its highest level in a decade. Stable in Germany, it fell by 6.8% in Spain. It increased by 2.2% in the United Kingdom, remained stable in the United States and fell by 6% in Canada.
In China, where the epidemic started, the fall is 17.4%, notes the OIV which recommends interpreting this figure “with caution”, due to regular revisions of the data by the Chinese Bureau of Statistics. In Argentina, wine consumption rose 6.5% and jumped 18.4% in Brazil. In contrast, it fell by more than 19% in South Africa, to its lowest level in twenty years. Alcohol sales were banned for many months in this country to avoid further encumbering hospitals under high stress due to Covid-19.