France reported a 2.2% drop in wine export value in the first half of 2026.

France closed the first half of 2026 with lower wine exports in both value and volume, according to French customs data reviewed by the Spanish Wine Interprofessional Organization, or OIVE, using Trade Data Monitor figures. Overseas sales totaled €5.41 billion, down 2.2% from the same period of 2025, while volumes fell 1.5% to 618.9 million liters. The weaker performance also pushed the average export price down 0.7% to €8.74 a liter.

The decline was broad, but France’s foreign wine business remained heavily centered on packaged wines, a category that includes sparkling wine, bottled still wine and bag-in-box formats. Together, those shipments reached €5.32 billion in the first six months of the year, down 2.1%, while volumes slipped 0.7% to 558.9 million liters. The average price for packaged wine fell 1.3% to €9.52 a liter.

Within that group, sparkling wine was the best-performing segment. France exported €1.91 billion worth of sparkling wine, up 2.6%, and volumes rose 6% to 99.4 million liters. Because shipments increased faster than revenue, the average price dropped 3.2% to €19.19 a liter. Even so, sparkling wine was the only major packaged category to post growth in both value and volume.

The largest part of France’s wine export business, bottled wine in containers under two liters, was the main source of the overall decline. Sales in that category fell 4.7% in value to €3.32 billion and 2.1% in volume to 432.43 million liters. The average price came in at €7.68 a liter, down 2.7%. That category remains by far the biggest earner for French wine exports, which meant its weaker showing had an outsized effect on the national total.

Bag-in-box wine moved in the opposite direction on pricing. Export revenue rose 5.6% to €90.81 million, even as volume dropped 2.3% to 27.08 million liters. The average price climbed 8.1% to €3.35 a liter. That made it one of the few categories where higher pricing more than offset lower volumes.

Bulk wine continued to account for a much smaller share of French wine exports and also lost ground. Shipments totaled €88.89 million, down 7.9%, while volume fell 8% to 59.95 million liters. The average price was nearly unchanged at €1.48 a liter, up just 0.1%. The figures show that bulk wine remains a marginal part of France’s export profile compared with higher-value packaged products.

The United States remained the top foreign buyer of French wine by both value and volume, but the market showed a split trend. Exports to the U.S. reached €1.01 billion in the first half, down 9.8% from a year earlier, while volumes increased 4.3% to 95.3 million liters. The gap between those two rates points to a lower return per liter in France’s biggest market.

The United Kingdom ranked second by value. French wine sales there rose 3.8% to €704.6 million, and volumes increased 8.5% to 76.7 million liters. That made the British market the third-largest destination by volume. Germany placed third by value at €333.8 million, a drop of 11.3%, and second by volume at 78.8 million liters, down 6.1%.

Japan held steady in value terms. French wine exports there were unchanged at €292.5 million, although volumes slipped 2.4% to 21.4 million liters. Belgium also declined, with purchases falling 4.7% in value to €290.4 million and 6.9% in volume to 56.8 million liters.

Among the next-largest markets by value, Canada imported €239.3 million of French wine, down 4.5%, while Switzerland bought €233 million, down 12%. Singapore stood out with growth of 8.4%, taking imports to €229 million. The Netherlands posted a smaller increase of 0.9% to €207.3 million. Hong Kong recorded the strongest rise among the top 10 markets by value, with imports up 17.8% to €179.1 million.

By volume, after the U.S., Germany and the U.K., the next-largest destinations were Belgium with 56.8 million liters and the Netherlands with 48.7 million liters. Canada imported 31.6 million liters, Sweden 24.3 million, Japan 21.4 million, Switzerland 18.2 million and China 14.1 million. Except for the top three volume markets, all of those destinations bought fewer liters than they did in the first half of 2025.

The data also points to a longer-term shift in French wine exports. In packaged wines, export value in the first half of 2026 was below the €5.43 billion recorded a year earlier and well below the €5.97 billion reached in 2023. In volume terms, the decline has been more persistent. Packaged wine exports fell from 631.8 million liters in the first half of 2021 to 558.9 million liters in the same period of 2026.

The contraction has been even sharper in bulk wine over that time. In the first half of 2021, France exported €141.7 million worth of bulk wine and 95.1 million liters. By the first half of 2026, those figures had dropped to €88.9 million and 59.9 million liters. The trend suggests that France’s wine export sector is facing pressure not only from short-term market changes in 2026, but also from a broader erosion in volumes over several years, including in categories that once provided more scale to its external trade.