EU exports of alcoholic beverages in 2024 added up to 29.8B euro
In 2024, the EU exported 29.8 billion euro worth of alcoholic beverages, a 10.9 per cent increase since 2019 (26.9 billion euro), EU statistics agency Eurostat said on April 28.
Exports were dominated by wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wines, representing 56.2 per cent (16.8 billion euro) of all alcoholic beverages, Eurostat said.
Spirits and liqueurs up the second biggest category, with 29.7 per cent of the total (8.9 billion euro), followed by beer, with 11.5 per cent (3.4 billion euro); cider, perry, mead, saké, and other fermented beverages, with 1.7 per cent (0.5 billion euro); and vermouth and other wines flavoured with plants or aromatics, with 1.0 per cent (0.3 billion euro).
France was by far the main EU exporter of alcoholic beverages to countries outside the EU in 2024, totalling 12.1 billion euro, representing 41 per cent of the total. This country exported mostly wine (66.7 per cent or 8.1 billion euro) and spirits and liqueurs (31.8 per cent or 3.8 billion euro).
Italy followed in second place, with 6.0 billion euro (20 per cent of the total EU exports to countries outside the EU), most of which (81.1 per cent or 4.9 billion euro) was related to the export of wine. Spain and the Netherlands exported 2.5 billion euro and 2.3 billion euro (each eight per cent), respectively, but while the most significant category for Spain was wine (1.6 billion euro), for the Netherlands it was beer (1.3 billion euro).
In 2024, the United States was the main destination for EU alcoholic beverages, with exports totalling 8.9 billion euro (30 per cent of the total). More than half of this value, 4.9 billion euro, is related to export of wine and a further 2.9 billion euro to spirits and liqueurs.
The United Kingdom was the second biggest trade partner, with 4.9 billion euro (17 per cent of the total), mostly connected to wine exports (68 per cent or 3.3 billion euro). The UK was followed by China and Canada (each 1.6 billion euro) and Switzerland (1.4 billion).
While exports of alcoholic beverages to Canada and Switzerland were mostly wine, the main export category to China was spirits and liqueurs, with 0.7 billion euro (45 per cent), followed by wine (0.5 billion euro, 34 per cent), Eurostat said.
(Photo: Patrick Kennedy)
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