The US has become the largest export destination for Portuguese wines, replacing long-time leader Angola.
Last year, sales to the North American market grew more than 8% to about €74.8 million. This performance helped offset a €40 million drop in exports to the Angolan market, according to Jorge Monteiro, president of Viniportugal, reports daily Jornal de Negocios.
In 2016, Portuguese wine sales to Angola totalled €33 million, down 54%, while for the past two years exports fell by €65 million. However, this was offset by growth in almost all other markets, adds Monteiro, pointing out that the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, Switzerland, China, Poland and Japan were the countries that stood out the most in terms of growth in this period.
Asked about the impact of Brexit and possible protectionist measures of the Trump administration, he replied that "the sector has followed developments but without great concern".
Wine Exports
Wine exports in 2016 totalled €732 million, compared to €727 million in 2015. For this year, the sector is confident that it will keep up the pace of growth, estimating a rise of around 4% to €744 million.
To reach this goal, one of the first steps will be to give up the Singapore market, where no results were obtained, and target Russia instead. In addition to this new market, the plans also foresee a strengthening of the presence in countries such as the US, Japan, Korea and Switzerland.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
