Last year, French wine sold very well abroad with palmost a third more sales compared to 2020. This is due to the very dynamic recovery all over the world: people go out, go to restaurants, and drink French wine. There is an obvious catch-up after the years of crisis and these periods when everything was closed. But what also gave a real boost to sales is that we found our first market, our locomotive: the United States, thanks to the lifting of taxes.
Between 2019 and early 2021, Donald Trump had implemented customs duties, punitive taxes on French wines entering the United States: +25% on bottles of Bordeaux, Burgundy, rosé, etc. Sales had fallen sharply. But Joe Biden put an end to these taxes and French bottles regained their place on American tables.
The Asian market also counts because in the direction of China alone, our exports jumped by 56% last year. More 60% to South Korea. We also sell a lot to the English, Germans and Belgians. In total, last year, we exported nearly 15.5 billion euros worth of wines and spirits. A record!
Red and white wine, champagne, cognac too… All of the sector’s products have a very good reputation abroad and sell with good margins. Fortunately, because on the volume side, there are concerns. Last year, the harvests were not very good because of the weather and French wine production fell by 23%. There are stocks but the years to come could be less prosperous.
In the meantime, it’s good for our economy. Especially this year, these wine sales somewhat offset our imports. In 2021, we bought a lot more abroad than we sold. The differential is such that we have recorded the worst trade deficit in our history: almost 85 billion euros.