Spanish bulk wine export to China up 37.5% in 2011

According to Customs Bureau data, reviewed by the Spanish Wine Market Observatory (OeMv), Spanish wine exports increased in volume by 26.3% in 2011 to 2.23 billion liters compared to 1.76 billion in 2010. In terms of value, the increase was 16.7% or € 2.23 billion, up €320.5 million.

Of note, is the increase in 2011 of bulk wines without a protected designation of origin (DOP). Those wines were up 43.2% in volume to 1.16 billion liters (351 million more than in 2010), and 52.9% in value, to € 3.86 billion (a € 1.33 billion increase over 2010). Bottled wines with a DOP also showed important growth (+18.3% in volume to 313 million liters, and +15.8% in value to € 925.6 million); sparkling wines and Cava (+16.2% in volume to 157.5 million liters and +8.9% in value, to € 392.3 million), and bottled wines without a DOP, which showed 12% growth in volume and 9.6% increase in value to reaffirm the recovery of that category.

In terms of total value of different types of wine by market, the 10 main export destinations showed positive growth in sales. Only Portugal registered a decline of 20.5% in volume. All wines with designation of origin, including still and sparkling wines, registered growth in North America (U.S., Canada and Mexico) and in many European export markets, like Germany and the UK.

France, with a 35% increase to 379.6 million liters, was the main destination for exports of bulk wines without the DOP classification, followed by Germany (+33% to 13 5.4 million liters). Most notable however was the increase in exports to Italy (+183% to 117.9 million liters), which was probably due to that country´s short harvest. Russia (+54.5%) and China (+37.5%) also proved to be important export markets for Spanish bulk wine without a DOP.