Spain export growth ‘substantial’

Spain’s wine export business has shown substantial growth in the first half of 2012.

Spain: exports up in all regions

Castilla-La Mancha remains the biggest exporter, accounting for 50% of all Spanish wine sold abroad; all but three of Spain’s 17 regions showed at least some growth.

Rioja was one of the regions which saw a drop in exports, of 2.5% in volume, but with an increase of 4.9% in value, which would indicate that more wine with the top-level DOPCa Rioja label was sold, and less Vino de Mesa, of which the region is a major producer.

Elsewhere, Extremadura showed the greatest growth year-on-year, with an increase of 48.1% in volume and 69.9% in value, followed by Madrid with 36.9% and Aragón with 17.9%.

País Vasco, Castilla y León and Navarra all showed increases of around 10%, and only Valencia saw a drop, admittedly of only 0.5% in volume and with an increase of 21.9% in value.

Amongst the ‘minor’ regions the hands-down winner was Cantabria with export sales up 849% but from a very low base (and value down 20%). This was followed by the Canary Islands with an increase of 72.9% in volume and 5.4% in value, and the Balearic Islands, up 20.9% and 5.1%.

The island regions have an additional cost burden: bottles, casks and tanks all have to be shipped from the mainland, and the finished wines shipped back.

Written by John Radford