While the wine industry in Europe is not very prosperous, German wine merchants have achieved good sales performance in the Western market through steady and solid efforts.
The German Wine Institute said that in the first half of 2008, the sales volume of German wines increased by 2.2%, and the sales volume of domestically produced wines increased by 1.1%.
Although the consumption of wine on the European continent continues to decline, German wines have gone against the trend, and the domestic sales share of German domestically produced wines in the domestic wine market reached 54.5% in the first half of 2008. This figure was 52% in the middle of 2007.
In the first half of 2007, the share of wine in the German alcohol market was 46.3%, and it reached 49.1% in the first half of this year. In contrast, the market shares of the three major European wine exporters - Italy, France, and Spain - all showed double-digit declines.
Data released by Germany's market research company GfK showed that the average price of wine (sold in grocery stores and discount stores) this year in the first half was 11 cents higher than the same period last year, with the highest sales of wine in grocery stores. The Wine Institute said that in the first half of 2008, 73% of German wines were sold through grocery stores, which was 2% higher than the same period last year.