DECRYPTION – Their sales fell by 5% in 2022. The reopening of China should revive them.
With a trade surplus of 15.7 billion euros recorded in 2022, French wines and spirits consolidated their place as French flagships of foreign trade last year. But if shipments of champagne (+ 8.5%) or vodka (+ 7.6%) are doing very well, cognac has seen its volumes fall by almost 4% in 2022, according to the Federation of Wine Exporters. and spirits (FEVS).
In value, the momentum remains very good with a jump of 9.3% in turnover, to 3.9 billion euros, thanks to price increases. But on this AOC, of which 97% of sales are for export, this brake is a first since 2014 (except 2020, where sales suffered from the Covid crisis).
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The cognac interprofession (BNIC) explains this decline (223 million bottles sold in 2021, and 212 million in 2022) by a return to normal after an exceptional year 2021. “This had been marked by a phenomenon of “revenge buying” after the health restrictions linked…