Spain's export year 2023 ended with a loss of 86.3m liters (-4.1%) and €97m (-3.2%). According to figures from the Observatorio Español del Mercado del Vino (OEMV), the total value stood at €2.9bn, making it the third-highest export value the country has ever recorded with wine, after the previous year's record of more than €3bn and the value from 2018, which was €19m higher. The volume of 2bn liters has been undercut only twice in the last ten years.
The biggest loser is the category of wines with a designation of origin, which accounts for the lion's share of the value loss. Here, wine worth €73.7m less was exported, a decrease of 5.6% compared to the previous year. In terms of volume, this category saw the most significant reduction, with 33.4m liters (-11.8%). Bulk wine recorded the second-largest value loss (-€17.3m/-3.3%), with only a relatively small decrease in volume (-0.7%). Bottled wine without a designation of origin showed a reverse dynamic, where the volume loss was high (-25.4m liters/-6.5%), but the value loss was somewhat milder (-€5m/-1%).
Bag-in-Box offers a glimmer of hope
The only category showing positive growth is Bag-in-Box (BiB). There was an increase of 3.5m liters (+5.6%) and €6.6m (+8.6%) in growth. In total, 64.9m liters of wine were exported as BiB.
Varietal wines were the only still wines in bottles that could increase their exports in 2023, with a value growth of 10.7% to €156.1m (€+15.1m) and a volume increase of 3% to 90.6m liters (+2.7m). The average price for these wines also rose by 7.4% to €1.72 per liter (+12 cents).
The main export markets for still wine in bottles are the UK, USA, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, sorted by export value.
