European Union spirits exports rose 10% in the first seven months of 2026

European Union wine exports fell in value in the first seven months of 2026, while exports of spirits and liqueurs rose sharply, according to a European Commission trade report published this week.

From January through July, EU exports of wine and wine-based products totaled €9.446 billion, down from €9.726 billion in the same period a year earlier. That was a decline of €280 million, or 3%, based on figures published by the Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development using Eurostat COMEXT data.

Over the same period, exports of spirits and liqueurs climbed to €5.279 billion from €4.809 billion, an increase of €470 million, or 10%. The Commission said that growth was driven mainly by sales to Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Russia. It said the gains in Ukraine and Kazakhstan were linked to higher prices, while growth in Russia reflected larger export volumes. The report did not give a separate euro amount for each of those markets.

The two categories also moved in different directions in the EU’s trade balance. Wine remained the bloc’s most valuable beverage export category and still posted the largest trade surplus among the drink groups tracked by the Commission, but that surplus narrowed from a year earlier. Spirits and liqueurs, by contrast, increased their positive trade balance as export growth outpaced the rise in imports.

Wine and wine-based products generated a trade surplus of €8.661 billion in January through July, based on exports of €9.446 billion and imports of €785 million. In the same period of 2025, the surplus had been €8.882 billion. That means the surplus fell by €221 million, even though it remained far above the level of any other beverage category in the report.

The smaller decline in the wine surplus compared with the drop in export revenue was partly explained by lower imports. Based on the Commission’s published trade tables, wine imports in the first seven months of 2025 were about €844 million. Against that level, the 2026 import figure of €785 million implies a drop of roughly €59 million, or close to 7%.

The latest figures extend a weaker pattern for EU wine exports. For the full year, exports of wine and wine-based products fell from €17.455 billion in 2024 to €16.499 billion in 2025, a decrease of €956 million, or about 5.5%.

Spirits and liqueurs followed the opposite path in 2026 after a weaker 2025. The EU imported €2.57 billion of spirits and liqueurs in January through July, up from €2.457 billion a year earlier, an increase of €113 million, or 5%. Because exports rose much faster than imports, the trade surplus for the category reached €2.709 billion. The Commission said that was €357 million higher than in the same period of 2025.

That rebound came after exports of spirits and liqueurs slipped in the previous full year. Annual exports fell from €8.769 billion in 2024 to €8.361 billion in 2025, a drop of €408 million, or about 4.7%. Imports in that category edged down from €4.38 billion in 2024 to €4.316 billion in 2025.

The Commission also reported figures for a broader group labeled “beer, cider and other beverages,” but it did not separate the results for beer and cider from the rest of the category. That means the totals cannot be treated as beer-only or cider-only data, and they may include products beyond alcoholic drinks.

Exports in that grouped category reached €6.282 billion in January through July 2026, compared with €6.345 billion a year earlier, a decline of €63 million, or 1%. Imports totaled €1.451 billion, leaving a trade surplus of €4.831 billion. That was slightly above the €4.824 billion surplus recorded in the same months of 2025.

The small improvement in that surplus came even as exports fell, because imports appear to have declined by a little more. Based on the Commission’s published export and surplus figures for 2025, imports for that category in the first seven months of last year were about €1.521 billion. Compared with the 2026 import figure, that points to a drop of roughly €70 million, or about 4.6%.

The broader category also showed a weaker full-year trend before 2026. Exports of “beer, cider and other beverages” fell from €10.835 billion in 2024 to €10.511 billion in 2025, a decrease of €324 million, or about 3%.

The Commission’s destination analysis added another sign of pressure on parts of the drinks trade. It said beverages were among the product groups with the largest export declines to the United States in January through July 2026. But the report did not break that down by wine, beer, or spirits, and it did not quantify the fall for alcoholic beverages alone. As a result, the U.S. reference cannot be directly applied to any single drink category in the report.

The figures in the Commission’s publication are measured in value rather than in liters sold or consumed. That means the 3% drop for wine and the 10% rise for spirits and liqueurs describe export revenue, not physical shipment volumes. When the Commission refers to price effects, it is using average unit values in trade data, meaning the declared border value divided by the recorded quantity, rather than retail prices paid by consumers.

The report was based on Eurostat COMEXT data extracted on Sept. 15 and compared the first seven months of 2026 with the same period in 2025. Across the beverage categories covered, wine remained the EU’s largest export earner, but it continued to lose value from a year earlier, while spirits and liqueurs recorded a clear recovery led by eastern markets including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Russia.