Global wine consumption to grow 40m cases despite China "blip"

IWSR Drinks Market Analysis has revealed that global wine consumption is expected to grow by 37.8m cases by 2022 despite a “blip” in Chinese imports.

According to the IWSR Vinexpo Report 2012-2022, premium-and-above wine consumption will grow by circa 50m cases while value-and-below wines will lose 57.7m cases.

IWSR CEO Mark Meek said China - one of the largest global wine markets – saw an 8-10% drop in wine imports in 2018, mainly due to the slowing of China’s economy.

“Wine consumption will grow in China. We are seeing a blip and it’s economically driven as far as we can see and therefore we still forecast it to grow strongly,” said Meek.

The IWSR report also shows that North America is expected to lead the way in global wine consumption by 2022 with an increase of more than 24m cases.

Meek added: “We were under the impression that millennials were contributing to the uptake in wine consumption because it was seen as a sophisticated form of intake. But that’s dropped off. For one reason or another millennials in the US seem to be switching off from wine – what the key reasons are for this are yet to be discovered and whether it’s just a blip we will find out.”

The fastest growing region is expected to be Africa where volumes are projected to increase with a compound annual growth rate of 3.1%.

The report also shows that sparkling wine will continue to outperform the rest of the wine segment, growing with a CAGR of 1.6%.