US wine market remains world leader in value and volume
The US wine market, worth an annual $34bn remains the leader in global value terms, according to new data from Vinexpo.
And the report predicts that the US wine market will increase that lead over the next five years. By 2021, US sales of still and sparkling wine are expected to hit just over $45bn, in a global market that is predicted to reach 2.66bn cases worth over $224bn.
Not only is the US leading the world in terms of value; its volume growth last year was world beating, and the 23rd consecutive year when the US outstripped every other country.
In contrast with the US, the wine markets of key European producing nations inc;luding France, Germany and Italy, declined in both value and volume in 2016 as part of a long running trend.
Vinexpo predicts that consumption in the US is forecast to increase to 2021, with both local and imported wine set to grow. But New Zealand is predicted to be the star performer in terms of imports to the US, forecast to increase by nearly 10% from 5.2 million cases in 2016.
Two years ago Italy was the biggest exporter of wine to the US, shipping over 25 million 9 litre cases, while Australia came in second place with 15.7 million cases.
French wine exports to the US stood at 10.4 million 9 litre cases in 2016, but this is predicted to increase by 2.8% by 2021. Chile is the fourth largest exporter of wine to the US, shipping 6.8 million 9 litre cases in 2016, which is expected to inch up by 0.5% in three years.
Argentina’s exports to the US are also expected to increase by 0.5% by 2021 from the 6.1 million cases it shipped in 2016.
As for sparkling wine, sales are expected to continue to perform strongly and forecast to grow by on average 2% year-on-year to 2021, driven predominantly by North America.
In Europe, the world’s largest regional consumer of sparkling wines, the outlook is also generally positive. Even though the UK (the world’s largest sparkling wine importer) is expected to experience strong growth, it will nonetheless be overtaken by the US as the world’s most important export destination by 2021.
Prosecco is expected to grow most in the US, and in so doing the US is forecast to become the category’s second largest export destination, behind the UK.