European wine exports fell 5% through April as U.S. pricing pressure deepened the slump

European wine exports fell 5% in the first four months of 2026, slipping to just over €5 billion from January through April, according to the European Commission’s latest “Monitoring EU Agri-Food Trade” report.

The decline extended a weak trend that had already marked 2025, when wine exports lost ground after a record 2024. The new figures show that the slowdown has continued across the European market, including France, Italy and Spain, the bloc’s three largest wine-producing powers.

The Commission said the drop amounted to €265 million compared with the same period in 2025. It attributed the decline mainly to lower prices on shipments to the United States, one of the most important destinations for European wine. That pricing pressure matters beyond wineries because it can affect margins across the beverage trade, from exporters and importers to distributors and retailers that depend on wine as a major category.

While wine weakened, exports of spirits and liqueurs were stable at €2.7 billion in the same January-to-April period, suggesting a more resilient performance in other parts of Europe’s alcoholic drinks business.

Wine remains one of the European Union’s most important agri-food export products. In 2025, it accounted for €16.4 billion in exports, even after losing nearly €1 billion from 2024 levels. That still represented 7% of all EU agri-food exports, underlining the sector’s weight in trade and in the broader beverage economy.

The report placed the wine figures within a softer overall trade picture for European agriculture and food products. In April 2026, EU agri-food exports reached €20.3 billion, down 3% from the previous month but up 1% from a year earlier. For the first four months of the year, total exports came to €77.6 billion, which was 3% below the same period in 2025, a decline of €2.3 billion.

According to the Commission, that broader drop was driven mainly by lower exports of cocoa and pork. Olive oil was also among the products under pressure. Its export value fell by €367 million, or 17%, in the first four months of 2026, reflecting both lower prices, down 12%, and lower volumes, down 8%. The sharpest weakness was seen in sales to the United States, but declines were also recorded in shipments to Canada, Australia and Japan.

The United Kingdom remained the European Union’s largest agri-food trading partner, with €17.8 billion in trade despite a 2% decline. The United States ranked second at €8.8 billion after a steeper 14% drop. Switzerland followed with €4.6 billion, up 1%.

On the import side, the EU brought in €62 billion in agri-food products from January through April, down 4% from the same period a year earlier. The bloc’s agri-food trade surplus improved slightly, rising from €15.3 billion in the first four months of 2025 to €15.6 billion in the same stretch of 2026. The Commission said that gain of €233 million was linked to lower cocoa prices.

For wine producers and traders, however, the main signal from the latest data is that demand conditions remain difficult and that pricing in the U.S. market is playing a central role in shaping export results at the start of 2026.