Spanish wine exports fall for fifth straight month

Spanish wine exports fell in the 12 months through February 2026, with revenue down 4.8% to €2,849.7 million and volume down 5% to 1,838.8 million liters, according to data from Spain’s tax agency analyzed by the Spanish Interprofessional Wine Organization, or OIVE. That meant a loss of €142.8 million and 97.7 million liters compared with the same period a year earlier, and it marked another weak stretch for a sector that has now posted five straight months of declines.

The downturn was driven mainly by bottled wines, while bulk wine held up better in value because of higher prices even as shipments fell in volume. Packaged exports, which include sparkling wines, still wines, liquor wines, needle wines and bag-in-box formats, totaled 809.9 million liters and €2,313.4 million, down 6.5% and 6.2%, respectively. Their average price rose slightly to €2.86 a liter.

Sparkling wine was one of the weakest categories. Exports fell 6.8% in value to €493.1 million and 9.8% in volume to 144.5 million liters. The decline was driven almost entirely by Cava, Spain’s best-known sparkling wine and the only major sparkling category with its own tariff code. Cava exports dropped 10% in value and 16.5% in volume, to €353.3 million and 93.9 million liters. Other sparkling wines moved in the opposite direction, rising 2.4% in value and 5.8% in volume to €139.8 million and 50.6 million liters.

The United States remained the largest market for Spanish sparkling wine despite sharp declines of 20% in value and 21.5% in volume, to €67.1 million and 18.8 million liters. Belgium followed with €56 million and 16.2 million liters, both lower than a year earlier. Germany and France also posted steep drops, while Mexico, Poland and Brazil were among the markets that grew.

Still bottled wines also ended the period in negative territory, with exports down 6.2% in value and 5.8% in volume to €1,652.2 million and 570 million liters. Within that category, wines with protected designation of origin accounted for the largest share and the biggest losses, falling 6.6% in value to €1,168.4 million and 9.1% in volume to 224.6 million liters. Their average price climbed to €5.20 a liter, the highest level in the series.

Varietal bottled wines were the only still-wine segment to increase volume, up 0.6% to 91.6 million liters, though their value fell 5.3% to €160.4 million as prices weakened. Bottled wines with protected geographical indication dropped 10.7% in value and 10.5% in volume, while bottled wines without any indication slipped 1.5% in value and 1.1% in volume.

Wine sold in bag-in-box containers of between two and 10 liters was the only packaged segment to grow in both value and volume over the period, though only modestly: up 0.7% to €87.3 million and up 0.6% to 69.7 million liters. Varietal bag-in-box wine drove that growth, rising 16% in value and 17.6% in volume to €32.6 million and 28.8 million liters.

France became the top market for Spanish bag-in-box wine by both value and volume after strong gains of 52.7% and 66%, respectively, reaching €12.8 million and 12.4 million liters. Germany followed, while Japan saw a sharp decline.

Bulk wine told a different story from bottled exports: revenue rose 1.5% to €535.4 million even as volume fell 3.9% to 1,029 million liters, because the average price increased 5.6% to €0.52 a liter.

The largest bulk category remained wine without any indication, which accounted for most shipments but lost ground in volume, falling 6.4% to 702.8 million liters even as value edged up slightly to €358.1 million on higher prices.

Bulk varietal wine performed best within that segment, rising 5.8% in value and 3.7% in volume to €165.3 million and 314.4 million liters.

Germany stayed Spain’s biggest bulk-wine customer by both value and volume, taking nearly a third of total shipments at 304.6 million liters worth €148.9 million despite small declines in quantity and a slight rise in spending per liter.

France ranked second with 290.4 million liters worth €141 million after declines in both measures.

Italy showed one of the sharpest contractions among major buyers, with bulk imports from Spain falling 33% by volume to 87.8 million liters and dropping more than $18 million?