Champagne shipments in 2024 were 271.4 million bottles, which was down 9.2% from 2023 – a drop of 27.6m bottles on the previous year, when 299m bottles were shipped.
With the 2023 figure down just over 8% – or 26.5m bottles – on the total of 325.5m in 2022, the region has shed more than 50m bottles in two years (54.1m to be exact), and is now shipping volumes worldwide, including the domestic market, that are similar to the quantities of 2001, which were 262.7m.
Indeed, in this century, only the totals in 2000, 2001 and 2020 were lower than 2024. And those years were marked by extraordinary events: shipments in 2000 and 2001 were reduced due to a stock hangover from the Millennium celebrations – which turned out not to be as Champagne-heavy as envisaged – while 2020 was hit by the first Covid-related lockdowns.
So why has Champagne been shedding volumes? As noted in early 2024, the three major reasons for falling sales of Champagne in 2023 were price rises, overstocking and falling consumer confidence.
If we move forward to 2024, the trends are broadly similar, though there are differences, which explain the continued decline in shipments over the past 12 months.
And, for David Chatillon, who is president of the Champagne Houses and co-president of the Comité Champagne, the region has in fact proved remarkably resilient if one considers the strong negative influences on consuming a product that is so closely linked to good times.
“The drop of 9% is serious, but it could be worse,” he told db last month. “Everything is against the occasions of drinking Champagne: inflation, political instability in France and the US, and geopolitical issues worldwide,” he added.
Such a scenario does mean that the Champenois don’t appear surprised by the year-end shipment figure.
“We were expecting it,” said the managing director of Champagne Jacquart, Sébastien Briend, when db discussed the 271m bottle shipment total for 2024.
However, if there was an element of surprise and disappointment, it was the performance of international markets versus France.
“What is different about last year is that exports were worse than the domestic market,” said Briend. “I don’t know when was the last time that France had a better trend than exports, but it was probably 25 years ago,” he continued, before concluding, “But it’s not good news, because both are down.
In fact, 2024 saw France drop by 7.2% to total 118.2 million bottles while exports fell 10.8% to hit 153.2 million bottles. However, that does mean that exports represent 56.4% of total sales and remain higher than sales on the domestic market.
Briend is clear on why France suffered declines in 2024 – although it is a market that has suffered an ongoing if gradual fall-off in Champagne consumption this century.
“Champagne’s largest single market is France, and it has been a mess, politically and economically,” he recorded.
But this key volume consumer for Champagne has not been alone in terms of problems, with the second largest market for the French fizz, the US, also suffering declines – although the exact year-end numbers are yet to be released.
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