It appears things are looking up again for champagne. Figures for the past few months indicate the temporary dip in sales has been overcome, with the French domestic market, in particular, showing positive trends.

Champagne sales recorded a positive trend in November and December. Thanks to this change in fortunes, the figures for the 2009 calendar year in total now show a level of only ten per cent below that of the previous year. A total of 295 million bottles was sold in 2009, following on sales of 322 million bottles in 2008.

The upswing of recent months is mainly due to the trend in the French market, while the British market, too, showed slight growth, while the German market remained stable. (WF)