US, British and Italian Markets On the Grow
Staff Writer - April 8, 2005
 According to a report commissioned by Vinexpo wine trade show organizers, the US and Italy will overtake France as world's largest wine consumer markets by 2008.
The research projects a 28.6 percent increase in US wine consumption by 2008 over the last data available of 2003, reaching a total of 27.6 million hectoliters (about 730 million gallons), compared to France's 26.9 million hectoliters (about 710 million gallons).
Among the 2003 top five consuming countries, France and Argentina are showing a downward trend, while Italy show an increase and will overtake France as well. The fastest growing European market though, is England, which the study finds will increase consumption by 15.7% by 2008, taking the fifth place as major wine consumer from Argentina, which will drop off the top five.
In addition, wine drinking is growing fast in Australia and Canada, whose markets echo the American experience, as well as in Germany, Russia, Scandinavia and even on Asian markets, such as China and Korea.
Currently, French, Italians and Spanish still drink more than Americans on an individual basis, but the gap seam to be closing quickly. In fact, the US are expected to drink about one quarter of all wine consumed in 2008.
The VinExpo report also estimates wine production, with Italy and France remaining at the top, followed by Spain, the US and Australia. Finally, the study projects a 14.7 percent worldwide increase in total industry revenues by 2008.
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