Exports of German wines are also suffering from the economic crisis: both volumes and value sales declined significantly in the first half of 2010. Positive highlights against this background are the development in the USA and in Norway - as well as the fact that good quality wines generally showed a positive trend in exports.

As reported by the German Wine Institute, the total volume of German wine exported in the first half of 2010 declined by 13 per cent compared to the previous year, to around 900.000 hectolitres. Value sales of exports declined by nine per cent to 178 million Euros. Monika Reule, CEO of the Wine Institute, explained that these decreases in total exports were almost exclusively accounted for by significant reductions in the entry level wines, below the level of quality wines. The value of quality wines exported, which account for 80 per cent of export sales in value terms, actually grew by six per cent in the first half of 2010, with an increase of eight per cent in the export volumes of quality wines.

Non-EU markets, in particular, showed volume growth of 14 per cent and value growth of 13 per cent. The trend in sales to Germany's most important wine export market, the USA, showed a particularly favourable picture in the first six months of this year, with volume and value sales growth of ten resp. eleven per cent. For the first time, Norway, with export sales of eleven million Euros, has come in at fourth place in the rankings of German wine export markets, behind the Netherlands. Every third bottle of white wine purchased in Norway comes from Germany. (WF/press release)