Sales of this beloved beverage are sinking: ‘This is no time to celebrate’

Champagne sales are sinking around the world. A likely reason? People just aren’t in a celebratory mood.

The number of champagne shipments from France have declined for the second consecutive year, according to a report from Comité Champagne, a trade association and economic development group representing 130 farming cooperatives, 370 champagne houses, and more than 16,000 growers. The report, released this month, found the total number of champagne shipments from France dropped a little over 9% last year, to 271 million bottles.

Sales of champagne didn’t fare much better in its birthplace. Comité reports domestic sales of the favored sparkling wine in France declined about 7% to 118 million bottles because the “domestic market is still suffering from the prevailing gloomy political and economic context.”

Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron’s party had a dismal performance in the European Parliament elections. Macron responded by dissolving the National Assembly and calling parliamentary elections in June.

“Indeed, there was little cause for celebration in France last year, as the government lurched from one political crisis to another,” writes wine-industry publication, Decanter.

“Champagne is a true barometer of consumer mood,” Maxime Toubart, the co-president of Comité, said in the report. “ And this is no time for celebration, with inflation, conflicts around the world, economic uncertainty and a political wait-and-see attitude in some of Champagne’s biggest markets, such as France and the United States of America.”

The grim snapshot of the champagne industry, reports CNN, aligns with the sales of other alcoholic beverages, particularly in the United States, as consumers around the country combat inflation and buy fewer luxury brands.

According to Salon, French spirits group Rémy Cointreau recently reported that it’s also expecting a decrease in sales due to more “consumers growing weary of inflation-fueled food prices.”

Despite the dreary sales, Comité co-president David Chatillon maintained a hopeful outlook on the industry.

“It’s in less favourable times that we need to prepare for the future, to maintain our trajectory in terms of sustainable development and in terms of conquest of new markets and new consumers,” Chatillon said in the report. “ Champagne is a solid, sustainable organisational model that has proved its value, even in the face of adversity, which gives it confidence in the future.”