French wine and spirits exports hit record in 2019

原創徐菲遠華夏酒報今天

French wine and spirits exports hit a record in 2019 as exporters booked sales ahead of U.S. tariffs and Brexit but the business faces a tougher year in 2020, industry group FEVS said.

Sales abroad of wines and spirits -- France’s second-biggest export after the aerospace industry -- rose 5.9% in value to a record 14 billion euros ($15.3 billion), the Federation of French Wines and Spirit Exporters (FEVS) said on Wednesday.

Shipments to the United States, by far the largest overseas market for French wines and spirits and one which represents nearly a quarter of all such exports, rose 16% to 3.7 billion euros in 2019, with volumes rising 5.5%.

The United States imposed 25% duties last year on an array of European goods including French wine and European cheeses, as part of Washington’s response to illegal EU aircraft subsidies.

Uncertainty about the date and conditions of Britain’s exit from the European Union also prompted people to buy stocks ahead of time. This led to a 4.4% rise in sales in 2019 to 1.4 billion euros, FEVS said. Britain is the second biggest export market for French wines and spirits.

“This positive result in 2019 should not mislead us: trade and international political tensions have weighed heavily on exports of French wines and spirits companies and herald a difficult 2020 year,” FEVS President Antoine Leccia said in a statement, saying the U.S. market was the most worrying.

U.S. tariffs, which came into effect on Oct. 18, led to a 17.5% drop in French still wine exports in bottle in the last quarter of 2019, amounting 40 million euros in lost sales, FEVS said.

“The arbitrary sanctions that have affected our sector since Oct. 18 threatens our development on the world’s leading market, which will have a heavy impact on exporting companies and, more broadly, on the 500,000 players in the wine sector,” FEVS said.

In contrast, sales to China fell 4.7% last year to 953,000 euros, FEVS said, adding that sales to Hong Kong dropped 9.4%. The trade body cited a slowdown in the economy and political tensions in last year.

Champagne sales, which had been threatened by U.S. tariffs last year in retaliation for France’s digital tax, were nearly stable in volume but rose 7.5% in value to 3.1 billion euros.

Cognac sales, by far the largest spirits exports, jumped 11.4% to 3.5 billion euros.($1 = 0.9157 euros)

法國酒對中國出口下滑

法國葡萄酒和烈酒出口商聯合會(FEVS)稱，由于出口商趕在美國加征關稅和英國脫歐之前發貨，推動2019年法國葡萄酒和烈酒出口創下新高，但法國葡萄酒行業在2020年將面臨艱難的一年。

FEVS宣布，2019年法國葡萄酒和烈酒的海外銷售增長了5.9%，達到創紀錄的140億歐元(合153億美元)。葡萄酒是法國僅次于航空航天業的第二大出口產品。

迄今為止，美國是法國葡萄酒和烈酒的最大海外市場，占其出口總額的近1/4，2019年對美國的出口額增長了16%，達到37億歐元，出口量增長了5.5%。

為報復歐盟對空客提供補貼，自2019年10月18日起，美國政府對包括法國葡萄酒在內的一系列歐洲商品加征25%的關稅。

英國脫歐的日期及局勢的不確定性也促使人們提前增加庫存。FEVS表示，這導致2019年法國對英國的出口額增長了4.4%，達到14億歐元。英國是法國葡萄酒和烈酒的第二大出口市場。

FEVS總裁Antoine Leccia在一份聲明中說：“ 我們不應該受到2019年積極結果的誤導，貿易和國際政治的緊張局勢對法國葡萄酒和烈酒公司的出口造成了沉重壓力，預示著2020年將是艱難的一年，其中美國市場最令人擔憂。”

FEVS稱，美國加稅于10月18日生效，導致法國瓶裝靜酒在2019年最后一個季度出口量下跌了17.5%，出口額減少了4000萬歐元。

由于中國經濟增長速度減緩，法國葡萄酒對中國內地市場的出口額下降了4.7%，至95.3萬歐元。此外，對中國香港的出口額也下降了9.4%。

香檳銷量基本保持穩定，但銷售額增長了7.5%，至31億歐元。為報復法國開征數字稅，美國于2019年12月威脅將對包括香檳在內的法國商品開征最高100%的關稅。

干邑是迄今為止法國出口最多的烈酒，其出口額增長了11.4%，至35億歐元。