Global wine market- statistics & facts
The wine industry is facing hardship in many countries across the world. Demand for wine has been shrinking for some years and while there have been serious efforts to restrict supply, like government-backed vine destruction, those efforts have been outpaced by the pace of consumption's decline. Inflation has affected both the input costs for winemakers and consumers' willingness to spend, but the larger problem is that consumers are simply less interested in consuming alcohol than in the past.
In spite of increasing revenue in the global wine market, the decline in consumption is foreboding. Generational shifts in alcohol consumption signal that the decline might not be temporary.
Overflowing with wine
Global revenue for the wine industry was valued at over 330 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, representing an increase of over four percent compared to the previous year. E-commerce sales of wine shot up by 32 percent in the first year of the pandemic and although growth hasn't maintained that pace, sales have still increased by an additional 8.5 percent since then. This relatively rosy picture of market value masks the troubling state of volume. Global wine consumption had been relatively stable prior to 2019 when it began a steady decline. Starting from 237 million hectoliters in 2019, consumption shrank by 6.75 percent to 221 million hectoliters by 2023. Meanwhile, production volume has been very slow to adjust to the reduction in consumption, resulting in a worldwide glut of wine. Until 2023, global wine production volume had remained more or less stable for some time.Winemaking still centered in the Old World
France is the largest producer of wine in the world, having produced 48 million hectoliters in 2023. The other top producers round out the old-world trio with Italy ranking second with 38.3 million hectoliters and Spain in third with 28.3 million hectoliters. When it comes to vineyard area, the top three are not the same. Spain leads here with 945,000 hectares. France is second with 792,000 hectares and China outranks Italy with 756,000 hectares. Despite being most often associated with wine drinking, the French are not the top consumers of wine per capita. Portugal consumes more wine, by far, at 67.9 liters per person in 2022. Where the French do lead again is in the price of exported wine. French wine was valued at 9.21 U.S. dollars per liter, nearly double that of the second place United States.In spite of increasing revenue in the global wine market, the decline in consumption is foreboding. Generational shifts in alcohol consumption signal that the decline might not be temporary.
