Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne sets the yield for the 2024 harvest

Anyone who analyses the economic situation in Champagne must take into account the annual harvest volume. This says more than the official words of the BNP Paribas analysts.

Now the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne has announced the permissible yield for the 2024 harvest. It is 10,000 kilograms per hectare. Last year the maximum limit was 11,400 kilograms. The independent winegrowers had demanded a maximum yield of 11,000 kilograms for 2024, but this was blocked.

After the so-called record year of 2022, the view of the world is somewhat more sober again.

David Chatillon, President of the Union des Maisons de Champagne (UMC) and Co-Chairman of the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, says: "There has been an overstocking effect on the markets. In 2022, traders and buyers have stocked up for fear of shortages and in anticipation of inflation. If a buyer needed 12 bottles, he took 18 bottles. Now they don't want to stock up because interest rates have risen again. The second reason is the geopolitical context, which is not favorable."

All in all, the environment for champagne is no longer so cheerful: in the first half of 2024, sales amounted to 106.7 million bottles, a decrease of 15 percent compared to the first half of 2023.

The industry expects sales of 280 million bottles by 2024.

In the meantime, the rainfall in the vineyards was very high, which led to a heavy infestation of downy mildew. The start of the harvest is forecast to be around September 11th at the earliest, and in various crus around September 22nd.