Reported today on Irish Examiner
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Prices law takes the fizz out of champagne
As US president Donald Trump targets champagne in an escalating trade tussle with Europe, makers of one of France’s quintessential luxuries are losing support from domestic drinkers.Corks are popping less abundantly in France, an additional headache for champagne producers already facing the double threat of US tariffs and the UK’s planned exit from the EU.Even as overseas markets continued their growth, a decade-long slide in domestic demand worsened in 2018, with sales in France falling by 6.5m bottles.
The slump appears to have continued this year after a plunge in sales during the country’s autumn wine promotions.To top it off, a transport workers’ strike dragged on into the Christmas season, cutting end-of-year spending.”In a difficult economic and geopolitical context, the uncertainties linked in particular to Brexit and the French market remain, and still call for much caution”, producer Laurent-Perrier said this month in warning about the outlook for its financial year to March.The company said its champagne sales fell 0.6% in the first half.While globally recognised brands like LVMH’s Dom Perignon and Pernod Ricard’s Perrier-Jouet have ridden a wave of export demand over the past decade, domestic drinkers remain key to the industry.
About 147m champagne bottles were shipped in France last year, roughly three times as many as the combined total of the UK and the US, the top two export markets.French supermarkets have long helped drinkers stock their cellars ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays with two-for-one promotions that cut the per-bottle cost to less than €10.This year, a new law aimed at boosting prices for farmers barred retailers from dangling such loss leaders.That contributed to a 34% slump i