Global wine consumption volume falls while value rises

Lower volume, higher total value

The latest global consumption data from IWSR points to continued change in the international wine market during 2024. Worldwide wine consumption volume declined by 3% to 2.3 billion nine-litre cases. At the same time, the total value of consumption increased by 1% to US$191 billion.

The contrasting direction of these two indicators highlights the complexity of current market conditions. Although less wine was consumed globally by volume, the market measured by total value did not contract and instead recorded modest growth. The figures provided do not, however, identify the factors behind either movement. They also offer no further breakdown by country, region, price category or wine type.

Different signals for the industry

The gap between volume and value may be significant for producers, distributors and other participants across the wine sector. The reduction in volume shows that global demand remained under pressure in quantitative terms during 2024. The increase in total value indicates that the market’s financial performance did not follow the same downward direction.

However, the available summary does not show how the additional value was distributed across the supply chain or which markets and product segments contributed most to the result. It would therefore be premature to attribute the divergence to any particular consumer trend, pricing development or change in product mix. More detailed IWSR data would be required to assess those possibilities.

A market still shifting

Taken together, the 2024 results present a global wine market in which consumption volume and total value can move on separate paths. The figures do not explain the causes of that divergence, but they provide a clear high-level measure of the shift: a 3% reduction in volume alongside a 1% rise in value.

For wine businesses, the headline numbers offer a broad reference point rather than a complete guide to individual markets. Regional and category-level information would be needed before drawing more specific commercial conclusions or comparing the performance of different parts of the global industry.

The IWSR consumption figures covered in this article were originally reported by Wine Australia.