Blame poor weather conditions within the European Union, said the Intergovernmental Organization of Wine & Vine, which put global production in 2017 at 250 million hectoliters, down 8.6% from a year earlier. The decline was even worse in the EU, which was down 14.6% from a year earlier.
That’s less wine produced than consumed, OIV noted. It said 243 million hectoliters were consumed in 2017.
Italy (42.5 mhl) confirmed its position as the leading world producer, followed by France (36.7 mhl) and Spain (32.1 mhl). The level of production remained high in the United States (23.3 mhl) and Australia (13.7 mhl).
In South America, after a 2016 harvest very marked by the influence of El Niño, wine production evolved in different ways in different countries. While the production of Argentina (11.8 mhl) and Brazil (3.4 mhl) grew compared with 2016, regaining their average values, Chilean production registered a decline for the second consecutive year, only reaching 9.5 mhl.
South African production levels established themselves at 10.8 mhl, equating to a rise of 2.6% compared with 2016. World wine consumption stabilised at 243 mhl.
For 2017, global wine consumption is estimated at 243 mhl, a slight increase in relation to the previous year. After the decline following the 2008/2009 economic crisis, world wine consumption resumed a positive trend. This same upward trend has been seen since 2014.
With 32.6 mhl wine consumed in 2017, the United States confirmed its position as the biggest global consumer country since 2011, followed by France (27 mhl), Italy (22.6 mhl), Germany (20.2 mhl) and China (17.9 mhl).
The downturn in the consumption of historic consumer countries – France, Italy and Spain – appears to have stabilised, while the consumption of the United States, China and Australia continued to increase.