World Comparisons

World Comparisons

Data from the Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV) in its StatsOIV Extracts indicate that worldwide the area under vines in 2009 decreased 0.2% to 7,704,000 ha (Table 33). This total is considerably lower than the period between 1976-80 when the figure was 10,213,000 ha.

Europe has seen its area under vines steadily decline since 1995. The continent saw a fairly significant drop of 2.1% of vineyard area between 2008 and 2009. In Asia, China has surpassed Turkey as the fourth largest country by vineyard area. Much of China's vineyard area is dedicated to table grapes but the growth has occurred in wine grapes.

Oceania continued to expand its area under vines, with 2009 totals up by 2.4% over 2007. However, the pace of expansion was slower than the period between 1995 and 2002 when Australia saw significant new plantings.

Spain, France and Italy account for 35.8% of total world vineyard area, down from 39.1% in 1995.

Despite the reduction in vineyard area, total grape production (wine grapes, table grapes, raisins) rose by 3.3% to 68,179 million tonnes in 2009 (Table 34) as global yields rise. The top five countries (China, Italy, Spain, France, and the United States) accounted for 50.1% of this production. China, which was the 6th largest producer in 2000, is now the largest producer. Big movers in growth in terms of world production in 2009 versus 2008 were China (+11%), France (+7.4%), Turkey (+8.9%) and India (+8.2%). Argentina and Australia saw drops in production.

World wine production in 2009 increased slightly to 27,106 ML (+0.5% over 2008) (Table 35). Australia who had dropped from the 6th-largest wine producer in the world in 2005 to the 9th in 2007 regained a bit of ground after recovering from the drought and placed 7th. The top three countries - Italy, France and Spain - accounted for 48% of world wine production, down from 62% in 2000. China surpassed Argentina on the list, while Romania with a nearly 30% increase from the previous year entered the list at position number 12.

The world wine market suffered as wine exports decreased (-2.6%) in 2009 (Table 36). The world market accounted for 36.4% of world consumption in 2009, against a scant 18.2% on average from 1986-1990. It is therefore the wine market which, in relation to the other products of the sector, has seen its degree of internationalisation develop fastest since 1990. Italy remained the number one exporter with a healthy 11.5% increase from 2008. Spain wasn't so fortunate and saw a big 13.6% decline in exports. Australia maintained a strong fourth place with exports increasing (-10.6%). New Zealand grew its export by nearly 30% to become the 11th largest wine exporter. The top four countries comprised 61.9% of the world's exports with the top two countries claiming 39.0%.

Worldwide wine consumption dropped by 2.1% to 24,014 ML in 2009 (Table 37) driven largely by a 12.1% drop in consumption in Italy and a drop of 4.0% in all of Europe. Europeans consumed 65% of the world's wine in 2009 but this position is eroding as it was 73.8% at the end of the 1980s. China surpassed the United Kingdom as the fifth largest consumer and posted an 9.1% gain.

France's population has the world's highest per capita wine consumption, drinking 48.4 litres per year but down 14.5% from 2003 (Table 38). The OIV previously rated Luxembourg as one of the highest per capita wine drinking countries but now believes that much of the wine purchased there is by visitors to the country. Per capita consumption has dropped substantially in the traditional wine producer and consumer countries such as France, Italy and Spain. High levels of individual consumption are logically found in those countries that are traditional producers of wine. Australia is one of the few countries to post an increase in per capita wine consumption since 2003.