French wine and spirits exports hit record in 2019

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French wine and spirits exports hit a record in 2019 as exporters booked sales ahead of U.S. tariffs and Brexit but the business faces a tougher year in 2020, industry group FEVS said.

Sales abroad of wines and spirits -- France’s second-biggest export after the aerospace industry -- rose 5.9% in value to a record 14 billion euros ($15.3 billion), the Federation of French Wines and Spirit Exporters (FEVS) said on Wednesday.

Shipments to the United States, by far the largest overseas market for French wines and spirits and one which represents nearly a quarter of all such exports, rose 16% to 3.7 billion euros in 2019, with volumes rising 5.5%.

The United States imposed 25% duties last year on an array of European goods including French wine and European cheeses, as part of Washington’s response to illegal EU aircraft subsidies.

Uncertainty about the date and conditions of Britain’s exit from the European Union also prompted people to buy stocks ahead of time. This led to a 4.4% rise in sales in 2019 to 1.4 billion euros, FEVS said. Britain is the second biggest export market for French wines and spirits.

“This positive result in 2019 should not mislead us: trade and international political tensions have weighed heavily on exports of French wines and spirits companies and herald a difficult 2020 year,” FEVS President Antoine Leccia said in a statement, saying the U.S. market was the most worrying.

U.S. tariffs, which came into effect on Oct. 18, led to a 17.5% drop in French still wine exports in bottle in the last quarter of 2019, amounting 40 million euros in lost sales, FEVS said.

“The arbitrary sanctions that have affected our sector since Oct. 18 threatens our development on the world’s leading market, which will have a heavy impact on exporting companies and, more broadly, on the 500,000 players in the wine sector,” FEVS said.

In contrast, sales to China fell 4.7% last year to 953,000 euros, FEVS said, adding that sales to Hong Kong dropped 9.4%. The trade body cited a slowdown in the economy and political tensions in last year.

Champagne sales, which had been threatened by U.S. tariffs last year in retaliation for France’s digital tax, were nearly stable in volume but rose 7.5% in value to 3.1 billion euros.

Cognac sales, by far the largest spirits exports, jumped 11.4% to 3.5 billion euros.($1 = 0.9157 euros)

法国酒对中国出口下滑

法国葡萄酒和烈酒出口商联合会(FEVS)称，由于出口商赶在美国加征关税和英国脱欧之前发货，推动2019年法国葡萄酒和烈酒出口创下新高，但法国葡萄酒行业在2020年将面临艰难的一年。

FEVS宣布，2019年法国葡萄酒和烈酒的海外销售增长了5.9%，达到创纪录的140亿欧元(合153亿美元)。葡萄酒是法国仅次于航空航天业的第二大出口产品。

迄今为止，美国是法国葡萄酒和烈酒的最大海外市场，占其出口总额的近1/4，2019年对美国的出口额增长了16%，达到37亿欧元，出口量增长了5.5%。

为报复欧盟对空客提供补贴，自2019年10月18日起，美国政府对包括法国葡萄酒在内的一系列欧洲商品加征25%的关税。

英国脱欧的日期及局势的不确定性也促使人们提前增加库存。FEVS表示，这导致2019年法国对英国的出口额增长了4.4%，达到14亿欧元。英国是法国葡萄酒和烈酒的第二大出口市场。

FEVS总裁Antoine Leccia在一份声明中说：“ 我们不应该受到2019年积极结果的误导，贸易和国际政治的紧张局势对法国葡萄酒和烈酒公司的出口造成了沉重压力，预示着2020年将是艰难的一年，其中美国市场最令人担忧。”

FEVS称，美国加税于10月18日生效，导致法国瓶装静酒在2019年最后一个季度出口量下跌了17.5%，出口额减少了4000万欧元。

由于中国经济增长速度减缓，法国葡萄酒对中国内地市场的出口额下降了4.7%，至95.3万欧元。此外，对中国香港的出口额也下降了9.4%。

香槟销量基本保持稳定，但销售额增长了7.5%，至31亿欧元。为报复法国开征数字税，美国于2019年12月威胁将对包括香槟在内的法国商品开征最高100%的关税。

干邑是迄今为止法国出口最多的烈酒，其出口额增长了11.4%，至35亿欧元。