Wine World Update:
US Top World Consumer, China Joins the Top Five
Loris Scagliarini –– Published - February 2, 2012
As people around the world tend to purchase better wine and pay more money for it, in 2011, American wine consumers drank about 2.78 billion liters of wine (over 7.3 million gallons), or the contents of 3.7 billion regular 75 milliliter bottles of wine. Looking forward, global wine consumption is expected to top 34 billion bottles a year in 2015.
Other Data
- 2010-2015:
Global wine consumption is expected to grow 6.2 percent, marking an increase of two billion bottles, and reaching a total of 34.1 billion bottles, that is 25.58 billion liters, or 6.83 billion gallons.
- 2006-2010:
- Wine retailing for $10 or more per bottle grew 14.7 percent.
- Wine priced in the $5 to $10 range grew 10.7 percent.
- Low-priced wines retailing under $5 grew a modest 0.95 percent.
- France 2006-2010:
- Italy 2006-2010:
- Spain 2010:
New research released on Thursday, January 12, 2012, by Vinexpo and International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR) reveals that in 2011 the US took the lead over Italy as the world's top wine consumer, drinking the equivalent of 3.7 billion bottles. At the same time, China (including Hong Kong) overtook England, thus becoming the fifth largest wine consumer in the world, drinking the equivalent of 1.9 billion bottles in the same period.
The year 2012 opens with the US as the top consumer, followed by Europe's traditional wine drinking countries, Italy, France, and Germany, followed by China in the fifth place. The data are the result of a study involving 114 retail markets and 28 wine producing countries.
According to the IWSR study, US wine consumption will increase 10 percent between 2011 and 2015. The study also forecasts that the China and Hong Kong markets combined will increase 54.3 percent. Vinexpo CEO, Robert Beynat, said that the next Hong Kong Vinexpo, to be held from the 29th to the 31st of May, 2012, is already sold out. After pointing out that China represents an interesting, growing market, Beynat added that the US must not be forgotten. "America is, and will remain, the main market in the world in terms of value and volume," he said.
The per capita consumption is expected to rise in both markets as well, with the American adult drinker consuming 13 liters per year, while its Chinese counterpart is expected be drinking between 1.9 and 2.0 liters per year.
While Europe as a whole is currently the main world consumer, downing 62 percent of the world's wine production, the trend is currently downward, with IWSR foreseeing a modest 0.4 percent growth in European consumption in the next four years. The European trend is not actually uniform. In fact, whereas wine drinking is expected to drop by 4.4 percent France, 4.3 percent in England, and 2.7 percent in Italy, in Germany it is expected to increase by 2.1 percent.
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