The entire wine industry, and the international wine trade included, was in 2023 faced with significant changes that had begun in the previous year. First of all, we had to deal with a reduction in wine imports from the world’s largest markets. Global wine exports dropped to 99 million hectolitres, and, at the same time, prices for exported wine continued to rise, reaching a record 3.62 euros per litre.
In 2023, the world’s three largest importers were the USA, Germany, and the UK. Between them, these three countries accounted for 40% of all wine imports by volume and 37% of wine imports by value. In this article we will look at the major importing countries in terms of volume of imported wine. In 2023, the US lost its lead in terms of volume, dropping to third place worldwide.
The largest of the three importers was Germany, which imported 13.6 million hl of wine. All categories of imported wine remained without significant changes, with the exception of bulk wine, imports of which increased by 5%. The total volume of imported wine remained virtually unchanged (-0.3% compared to 2022).
The UK remained the second largest market for wine imports at 12.3 million hl, despite a significant fall in volumes of 5.1% compared to 2022. Similarly, the USA showed a drop in wine import volumes by 14.6%, with import volumes falling to 12.3 million hl in 2023.
France and the Netherlands, like their neighbours in Germany, remain the most important wine markets. In 2023, 4.6% less wine was imported into France than a year previously. The volume of imports decreased to 6 million hl. Wine imports to the Netherlands did not fall, instead showing a slight increase of 0.5% compared to 2022, reaching 4.4 million hl.
List of largest wine importing countries in 2023
Next on the list of wine importing countries is Russia, with a total import volume of 4 million hl. This represents a 2% increase from 2022. Canada, with an import volume of 3.8 million hl, demonstrated a similar trend to the United States, with the volume of imports dropping by 10.2% compared to 2022.
Wine imports to Belgium and Portugal in 2023 amounted to 3 million hl each. In the case of Belgium, however, it decreased by 9.8%, while in Portugal, on the other hand, these increased by 3.3%. It is also worth noting that 76% of wine imports to Portugal are bulk wine imports.
China and Japan imported comparable amounts of wine in 2023: 2.5 million hl and 2.3 million hl respectively. China once again showed a significant decrease in imports at a drop of 26.1%. Imports to Japan fell by 12.5%.
Sweden and Italy close the list of largest wine importers with 2 million hl each in 2023. Imports to Italy increased by 0.6% compared to 2022, while imports to Sweden decreased by 7.3%.
In terms of volume, global wine export volume decreased by 6.3% to 99.3 million hl, the lowest recorded total since 2010. However, it is also worth noting that in 2023 the global wine export value reached 36 billion EUR, the second highest figure ever recorded.
Source: OIV Report 2024
