At the beginning of April, it was announced that going forward, the USA will levy tariffs on Austrian wine. This will have tangible consequences. Exports from Austria, as well as from all other EU countries, to the USA – the world’s largest wine importer – will suffer as a result. This means that more European wine will stay within Europe, which will put more pressure on Austria’s domestic market.
Now more than ever, it is important that we keep calm and pursue a damage-limitation strategy.
The Austrian Wine team is doing just that by means of the following:
- continuing to actively work the US market in order to maintain as many listings as possible
- driving initiatives in all other export markets to boost sales in these countries
- and working as hard as possible in the domestic market to ensure that Austrian wine remains the undisputed number one.
THE PROMISING MARKETS OF THE NORDICS AND CANADA
Over the past ten years, the value of Austrian wine exports in the Nordic monopoly markets (Norway, Sweden, Finland) has risen by 120%. Export sales have also shot through the roof in Canada, increasing more than sixteen-fold. There is a particularly strong demand in these markets for fresh and high-quality wines produced using environmentally conscious methods – in other words, exactly what Austria can deliver. Exactly how much potential can still be leveraged from these markets is a question that Patrick Eppacher, Head of International Markets at Austrian Wine, discussed with the Finnish Master of Wine Heidi Mäkinen and the Canadian sommelier Michelle Bouffard at this year’s Austrian Wine Marketing Day.
Watch the Video here
SLIGHT DROP IN WINE EXPORTS
By the end of 2024, there were already indications that for the first time in a very long while, Austrian wine exports were going to be somewhat subdued. Now we have the official figures from Statistics Austria. In total last year, Austria exported 64.2 million litres of wine with a value of €233.3 million. This represents a 1.7% fall in export volume compared to 2023, and a 6.0% fall in value.