The number 1 export country for champagne is the United Kingdom which last year imported 26.7 million bottles, followed by the United States with 23.7 million bottles, Japan 13.5M, Germany 12.1M, Belgium 9M, Australia 8.3M, Italy 7.3M, Switzerland 5.7M, and Spain with 4.1 million bottles.
Sweden is still number ten in Champagne’s export league. In 2018, Sweden imported 3,164,765 bottles of champagne, a slight decrease from 2017. Not bad for a small country.
The biggest market for champagne is, of course, the domestic, La France.
Champagne exports:
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Japan
- Germany
- Belgium
- Australia
- Italy
- Switzerland
- Spain
- Sweden
The champagnes that Sweden imports come from the “houses” (76%) (biggish firms, négociants, that don’t own much vineyards), from cooperatives (19%) and from independent growers (5%). Compared with the other countries, Sweden buys a much higher proportion of cooperative champagne. Maybe an effect of the monopoly market and the price pressure?
The EU average is 9.6%. The others buy more champagne from the houses. The import of grower champagne is generally low. 10% of Italy’s imports are grower-champagne, but that is the only country where that figure is higher than 5%.
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That grower champagnes are not exported much is a pity. It is often better quality at lower prices than the big “houses”. But the smaller producers don’t have the same marketing clout. You can find some of the best grower champagnes in our book on Champagne.
Travel: Come on a bubbly wine tour to Champagne this autumn.
