LISBON: Volume exports of Portuguese wine have increased by more than a quarter in the last five years, driven by the growing importance of export destinations such as Canada, Germany and the UK.
Surprisingly, the resurgence has been driven by growth in Portuguese DOP white wines, which increased more than 40% from 197,587 hectolitres in 2011 to 278,161 hectolitres last year. Exports of red wine grew by more than 25,000 hectolitres, from 219,556 in 2011 to 245,717 in 2016.
The data from ViniPortugal, seen by FoodBev, underlines the improvement in the country’s export mix. The three largest export markets are still the US, France and Germany – the latter of which has increased its intake of both red and white wine considerably – but a number of other countries are growing in importance.
Canada and Brazil increased their share of white wine exports, while Canada and China performed well in bottled red.
But the fastest-emerging market was Russia, where exports of white wine increased from just 130 hectolitres five years ago to more than 1,000 hectolitres last year.
Nuno Vale, chief marketing officer for ViniPortugal, which represents Portuguese wine producers, said that the increasingly eclectic export mix shows that the sector is competitive on many fronts.
Vale said: “It is important that we are able to compete in terms of both quality and authenticity at every price point, from entry level to super-premium. Value, quality, diversity and authenticity continue to be the most important arguments we have offer to gain retailers’ shelves, and have consumers prepared to pay more.”
Among Portuguese-speaking countries, there was strong growth for Mozambique, but the picture was generally poor for Angola, where exports of both red wine and white wine were slashed in half. It coincides with a sustained crash in the value of the Angolan kwanza, which crashed against the dollar from AOA 92.53 at the beginning of 2011 to AOA 165.74 at the end of last year.
The African country’s problems were worsened by falling oil prices and the increasing stranglehold of its black market.
In 2016, the country’s central bank deliberately devalued the kwanza to bring it closer to the value of black-market notes.
