The International Organisation of Vine & Wine (OIV) released some concerning statistics about the global wine trade in April. Its figures cover the production, consumption and trade of wine from all producing and consuming nations (more than 180 countries) during the 2024 calendar year.
Its annual report highlights some regular themes including climate change, shifting consumer preferences and geopolitical uncertainty as the driving factors behind the continued downturn.
Speaking at a conference, OIV director general John Barker, said: “Working together to develop solutions to climate change and making wine a beacon of sustainability; investing in research on new audiences so that we can see wine through their eyes; reinforcing our commitment to multilateralism and global trade: these are the elements that will lead the wine sector forward.
“The OIV has a key role as the global reference for vine and wine uniting 51 countries to promote cooperation, harmonisation and knowledge sharing around the key challenges and opportunities for the sector.”
Vineyard surface area
The global vineyard surface area continued its decline in 2024, contracting by 0.6% to 7.1 million hectares. This marks the fourth consecutive year of decline, which OIV says is driven by vineyard removals across major vine-growing regions in both hemispheres, affecting all grapes for wine and non-wine uses.
Production
For the second consecutive year, extreme climatic conditions and consequent disease severely impacted vineyards globally, leading to a historic low for global wine production. As in 2023, these circumstances were further exacerbated by economic and market pressures. In 2024, the total output fell to 225.8 million hectolitres – the lowest in over 60 years – down 4.8% compared to the previous year.
Wine consumption
In 2024, global wine consumption is estimated at 214.2 million hectolitres, down 3.3% from 2023’s already low level. Declining demand across major markets, coupled with high average prices, made for a challenging year. According to the report, France, Germany, the UK, the US and most major wine-consuming nations in the EU saw declines. China dropped 19.3% in 2024 while Argentina fell to its lowest level since 1942. Bucking the trend was Spain, which saw a 1.2% increase on the previous year, while Italy and Portugal were slightly in the black.
International trade
In 2024, OIV claims international trade in wine was impacted by low production volumes and high average export prices. According to the report, global wine export volume remained at its lowest level since 2010, totalling 99.8 million hectolitres – down 0.1% compared to 2023. This was offset by strong export value, reaching €35.9bn. The average export price held steady at €3.60 per litre, maintaining the record high set in 2023.
In director general Barker’s address, he talked of multilateralism as a solution to the future of the wine industry. Unfortunately, global and sporadic tariffs distributed by the Trump Administration represents the opposite.
According to the report, the US was the third-highest wine importer by volume with 12.3 million hectolitre (+0.1%/2023) and first place in wine import value with €6.3bn (+1.6%/2023). This spells further trouble for the wine industry with the major exporters to the US – France, Italy, New Zealand, Australia and Spain – all held to a 10% Trump tariff (at time of writing).
Searching hard for positives, OIV’s Barker mentioned sustainability and investing in new audiences as the two other solutions to future wine growth. Later in this magazine we look at some of the New World wine sectors performing well in line with these movements.
