LISBON: Portuguese wine exports fell for the first time after six consecutive years of record growth, according to Institute of Wine data.
The 1.1% drop was caused by the collapse in the Angolan market, which lost 67.6% in volume and 54.8% in value. In total, Portugal last year exported almost 2.77 million hectoliters of wine, valued at €727 million. The average price remained practically unchanged at €2.62 per litre.
Angola was, until 2015, the largest destination market for Portuguese wines, although not the one that earned the most profit.
This continues to be France, which annually buys more than €110 million in Portuguese wine.
But Angola, which bought 522,000 hectolitres in 2015, imported only 169,000 hectolitres last year, falling to sixth place in the ranking of largest Portuguese wine importers. As for value, it fell to less than half, standing at €32.8 million.
On the other hand, markets such as the United States, the Netherlands, Germany and Canada saw significant growth, ranging from 1.9% to 8.7%. But there were also good performances in new markets such as China (+23.7%) and the Russian Federation, which more than doubled purchases.
Besides the decline in Angola, there were also negative performances in the Belgian and Mozambican markets. However, exports to the UK grew 6% in quantity, totaling almost 205,000 hectolitres, but fell by 2.7% in value to €75.3 million – due to the impact of Brexit.
Exports of the iconic Portuguese green wine grew by almost 10% this year, totaling €59.8 million. It is the 12th consecutive year of green wines hitting historic highs in international markets, with exports already worth almost 50% of total sales in the region.
