Shipments of Champagne in 2020 totalled 245 million bottles, down 18% compared to 2019, reports the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC). The health crisis is a blow, but Champagne has taken steps to meet the challenge.
The year 2020 was a particularly testing time for the Champagne sector, right across the world. The closure of main centres for consumption and sales, along with the cancellation of many events, put the business under pressure and called for rapid adaptability, in a climate of considerable uncertainty, to ward off the consequences of the health and economic crisis.
Champagne recorded a drop of 18% in the number of bottles shipped, compared with a feared loss of 30% in the first half of 2020, based on shipments at the end of the year. Turnover in the sector was expected to be around 4 billion euros, a loss of around 1 billion for the year.
Declines even before the crisis
Already in retreat before the crisis, the French market continued to fall (-20%). Champagne’s three leading export markets likewise recorded serious falls this year: -20% in the United States, -20% in the United Kingdom and -28% in Japan. This drop was meanwhile offset by the relative strength of traditional markets in Continental Europe : Belgium (-5%), Germany (-15%), Switzerland (-9%); and the Australian market recorded a notable increase with growth of 14%. Taken as a whole, export markets lost 16% of their volume*.
Harvest volumes adjusted
The Comité Champagne met today and confirmed last July’s wise decision to adjust grape harvest volumes for the year 2020 so the efforts be distributed between growers and houses. Considering the final 2020 sales, it was also decided to augment the available harvest (8,000 kg/ha) by drawing 400 kilos per hectare from the interprofessional grape reserve. These decisions mean the business can approach the year 2021 with confidence.
“Faced with an unprecedented crisis, the organisation of our sector has proved its resilience. Together, the Champagne winegrowers and houses took last year wise decisions about yields. The adjustment that the Comité Champagne has agreed on today will give everyone a certain room for manoeuvre,” said Maxime Toubart, co-president of the Comité Champagne and president of the Syndicat Général des Vignerons.
* Country by country export figures represent initial trends, based on 80% of the volumes exported
