European Wine Exports Fall 11% in January

The European wine trade started 2026 under pressure, with exports falling 11% in value in January to 1 billion euros, according to the European Commission’s “Monitoring Eu Agri-Food Trade” report. The decline, equal to 127 million euros compared with January 2025, was driven mainly by lower volumes and prices in shipments to the United States, where the impact of tariffs and weaker demand weighed on sales.

The data come as the broader European Union agrifood sector also showed signs of strain. In January, the bloc exported 17.5 billion euros worth of agrifood products, down 9% from December and 8% from a year earlier. The sharpest drop among major trading partners was in exports to the United Kingdom, which fell to 4.1 billion euros, down 7% from January 2025, and to the United States, where agrifood exports dropped 25% to 1.8 billion euros.

Wine and wine-based products remained one of the European Union’s most important export categories, accounting for 7% of total agrifood exports in 2025 and ranking fourth among exported products. But January’s figures showed how exposed the sector remains to shifts in trade policy and consumer demand, especially in the American market.

The downturn was not limited to wine. European agrifood exports also fell in Japan, down 16%, and Russia, down 17%. Some smaller markets posted gains, including Singapore, up 46%, Egypt, up 24%, and Iraq, up 42%, but those increases were not enough to offset losses in larger destinations.

On the import side, the European Union brought in 14.4 billion euros worth of agrifood products in January, down 7% from the previous month and 11% from January 2025. The figures point to a difficult start to the year for Europe’s food and beverage trade at a time of international uncertainty and continued pressure on producers across the continent.

For Italy, the broader trend adds to an already weak opening to the year. WineNews reported that Italian wine exports fell 18.7% in value in January to 470 million euros, with volumes down 13.3%, reflecting both softer demand and a comparison with early-2025 buying that had been pulled forward by fears of U.S. tariffs later imposed by President Donald Trump.