However, the FEV says there is no single reason for the leap in prices. In Spain, the rise of bulk prices has widely been attributed to Europe’s historically low output in 2017: higher demand and less supply has triggered demand for Spanish bulk wines, pushing up prices. This year, however, the FEV says bulk wine exports jumped by 23% in value to July 2018, compared with the previous period last year, with the average price dramatically increasing, by 43.6% to €0.61 per litre. Only South Africa had lower average wine prices than Spain last year. Last year, the average French wine price of €6.00 per litre generated €9bn of exports – three times the €2.84bn value of Spanish wines - while the average Italian wine price of €2.78 per litre generated €6bn in exports. Despite better wines and the revaluation of prices, Spain has still much ground to make up: it may be the world’s leader in wine exports, but average wine prices in 2017 remained much lower than average prices in France and Italy, partly due to low prices of bulk wine which, in terms of volume, still accounts for the majority of wine exported. The average price per litre rose 5% to €1.25 in 2017, a notable increase on the €1.10 a litre recorded in 2015. Since 2014, the average price of Spanish bottled wines has risen every year, increasing in value from €2.12 a litre in 2014 to €2.39 in July this year. It says the increase in the value of exports in recent years shows a shift from quantity to quality. The Spanish Wine Federation (FEV) says an upward trend in wine exports continued in the first seven months of 2018, when exports increased by 5.9% in value. Since the height of the global financial crisis, the total value of Spanish exports has risen from €1.69bn ($1.92bn) in 2009 to €2.84bn in 2017, when wine exports increased by 2.5% in volume and by 7.6% in value. Rafael Del Rey, director of the Spanish Wine Market Observatory, (OEMV), says that while bottled still wines accounted for only 38.9% of total still wine exports (both bottled and bulk) volumes last year they generated 74.5% of the value of still wine exports. The outbreak of violence in Southern France against cheap Spanish bulk wine imports in recent years may suggest otherwise, but the rise of new styles of quality bottled wines made from indigenous grape varieties in renewed wine regions is increasing the value of wine exports and helping to forge a new identity for Spain’s wines. It’s moving from a country known for cheap bulk wine prices to one increasingly known for the quality of its bottled wines. Spain, the world’s largest exporter of wines, is turning its wine export ship around.
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