Champagne sales down worldwide in 2024, industry executives cite lack of 'cheer'
FILE-Champagne is served during an event. (Photo by Gideon Mendel/Corbis via Getty Images)
Champagne sales worldwide appear to have fizzled out in 2024.
The traditional toast to life's celebrations like weddings, promotions and even christening new ships appears to have fallen flat.
The CFO of luxury holdings company LVMH, which owns brands like Louis Vuitton and Moët et Chandon, believes it has to do with consumers feeling happy enough to celebrate.
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On a Tuesday call covering earnings, LVMH CFO Jean-Jacques Guiony said, "Champagne is quite linked with celebration, happiness, et cetera," according to Business Insider.
"Maybe the current global situation, be it geopolitical or macroeconomic, does not lead people to cheer up and to open bottles of Champagne. I don’t really know," Guiony added.
Champagne shipments in the first half of 2024 are down over 15% from 2023 levels, according to reporting from Reuters. Shipments in the first half of this year reached 106.7 million bottles.
"The gloomy global geopolitical and economic situation, as well as generalized inflation, is weighing on household consumption," David Chatillon, Champagne Houses lobby chairman, shared in a statement from the Comite Champagne (Champagne Committee).
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"Champagne also continues to suffer the consequences of overstocking by retailers in 2021 and 2022," Chatillon added.
Champagne grapes can easily suffer from mildew fungal infections in wet and frosty weather, which 2024 has had plenty of in the region.
Traditionally, poor harvest years like this one are replenished with vintages from previous years with higher yields of Champagne grapes.
In 2021, the Champagne region's harvest suffered a 25% shed from poor weather, falling to a 35-year low.
LVMH did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.