The French Spend To End Decline

French wine producers are hoping that a 40% increase in their marketing budget will help to tackle falling sales in the UK and help to combat the New World threat.

France is still the biggest supplier of wine to the UK market, shipping 2.6 million hectolitres last year, but its off-trade sales have now been overtaken by Australia. Not before time, the French government is seeking to address complacency about the image and reputation of its wines (see article, page 24).

Decision News Media SAS reports that total French wine exports fell by 9% in 2004 and again by 13% in the first quarter of this year, but it adds that other Old World countries such as Italy, Spain and Germany, are experiencing similar problems. They accounted for 90% of the value of the international wine market in 1994, compared to only 64% today.

Meanwhile, Sopexa claims that a promotional campaign by Tesco, the UK’s biggest retailer, led to an extra 1.8m bottles of French wine being sold between March and July. It estimates that French wine sales in the UK could increase by 10% in 2005.

No doubt, the French will be hoping to capitalise on predictions by UK consultancy IWSR that British per capita wine consumption is set to rise to 28 litres by 2008 from 24.8 litres in 2003, an increase of 12.9%.