80% of French wine producers are looking for new sales markets

Commissioned by ProWein, Geisenheim University polled experts across the entire value chain of the wine sector from over 40 countries in late 2022 for the sixth time now. Participants include wine producers from the most important wine-growing countries in the Old and New World, exporters, importers, specialist wine dealers as well as gastronomy and hospitality representatives. This report studies the impacts of the energy crisis, the price increases for power and fuel and the disrupted global supply chains. Here the key findings for the French market upfront. 

  1. French wines are in high demand on many wine markets of the world. On the import markets of global relevance, the USA and Great Britain, they rank second in the list of most popular origins. Especially in countries with rising demand for wine such as the Czech Republic, wines from France rank first in dealers’ appreciation. 
  2. For the current year 2023 the USA, Japan and Canada are the most attractive target markets in the view of French wine exporters. French vintners also continue banking strongly on Asian export countries. Japan, Singapore and South Korea feature among the Top 10 of the most attractive markets. 
  3. French wine producers rate their economic results for 2022 as good as for the previous year 2021. After the major COVID-induced slump in 2020 the situation has improved since 2021. At present, 43% of the companies rate their situation as good or very good. For 2023 the economic outlook has become gloomier though. The majority of French wine producers expect the economic situation to get worse. Reasons stated for this include the increased, high material and energy costs, global supply chains that continue to be disrupted and the deterioration of the international economic outlook. 
  4. The enormous increase in energy prices in Europe has clearly impacted the French wine sector. 73% of wine producers are strongly and very strongly affected by the price increases for electricity and fuel. Likewise, three in four (76%) French wine producers were subject to the disruption of global supply chains in the international wine trade. 
  5. Only one in five (22%) French wine producers plans to reduce investment due to the economic crisis. This means French wine producers play a leading role internationally and lay the foundation for a successful future. Most other wine producers want to restrict investments more heavily. 
  6. French wine producers react proactively to the international economic crisis. 80% actively search for new sales opportunities and are planning to develop new export markets. ProWein can make a key positive contribution to initiating contacts. 
  7. Over 70% of French wine producers plan to offer packaging alternatives for glass for their wines over the next two years. This makes French producers especially innovative and leaders on a global scale. More than half the French dealers plan to list products with alternative packaging over the coming two years. Bag in box (38%), aluminium cans (29%) as well as PET bottles (21%) are viewed as promising alternatives for glass. Alternative packaging formats will be trending at the forthcoming ProWein. 
  8. Regarding demand for wines with little or no alcohol, French producers and dealers rank in the international midfield. The current ProWein Business Report lists the countries with a high demand for low or non-alcoholic wines in detail, which might also be of interest as target markets for French wine producers.