“Last orders for EU’s alcohol industry?” - A special Brexit Facts4EU.Org report

Brits buy almost a quarter of all EU exports of wines and a fifth of its beer exports

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2020

Are a billion bottles of EU wine and 1.5 billion pints of EU beer under threat?

On 19 November it was ‘Beaujolais Nouveau day’, a marketing ploy designed by canny French ‘viniculteurs’ to promote sales of very young (and frankly not yet very appealing) wines from the Beaujolais region of France. The grapes making these wines had only been harvested just a couple of months before they were being drunk in UK wine bars last week.

That said, Beaujolais Nouveau day is now an established British tradition, so we used this occasion to look at the EU’s alcohol industry, and its dependence on the soon-to-be-Brexit British market.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

British consumers buy the largest volume in the world of the EU’s alcoholic drinks

  • Brits bought over 1 billion bottles of EU wine in 2019
  • The UK represents 23.2% of the EU’s export sales of wine and fortified wine
  • The UK is the EU’s largest world export market for these products

  • The EU sells more bottles of champagne to the UK than to any other country on earth
  • In 2019 Brits bought 27 million bottles of champagne, worth €0.43 billion

  • Brits bought the equivalent of over 1.5 billion pints of EU beer in 2019
  • The UK represents 20.6% of the EU’s total exports of beer
  • The UK and the US are the largest EU export markets for beer in the world

  • For spirits, Brits bought 125.9 million bottles from the EU in 2019
  • The UK made up 15% of total EU exports of spirits

NOTE: All figures relate to volumes of alcoholic drinks sold outside the EU27. Sources: EU Commission’s official statistics agency, and (for champagne) le Comité Champagne

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org - click to enlarge

Having the UK as a non-EU market for the EU’s alcohol industry now represents a major threat to the wine, fortified wine, beer, and spirits producers across the EU27 countries.

The figures we have shown above are for exports outside the EU, and the UK is now a non-EU export market. In fact it’s the largest – bigger in terms of literage even than the USA.

Will Brexit Britain consumers switch to non-EU producers?

In a post-Brexit world, with British consumers having seen how badly and how unreasonably the EU has treated the UK in its faux-trade talks, will more UK consumers start switching to wines from Australia, New Zealand, California, Chile, and other great countries for wine production?

Indeed will UK wine producers see a much greater domestic demand? And will imported bottles of Belgian, Dutch, and German beers be left on the shelves, in favour of British brands?

To date, the call to “Buy British” has been relatively muted. When more British consumers slowly become aware of the appalling antics employed by the EU’s eurocrats against the United Kingdom, some sectors of the EU27’s economies might start coming under threat.

Observations

Might the EU soon start having an alcohol problem?

Whilst it is true that any move to “Buy British” can work both ways, consumers must have a reason to start boycotting goods from another country – or in this case perhaps a group of 27 countries. And consumers in those affected countries seeing their exports to the UK fall must be able to consider the reaction of the UK’s consumers to be eminently reasonable, given the way the UK has been treated by the EU’s unelected eurocrats.

It’s high time that the UK Government started publicising the shameful behaviour of the EU since the British people voted to leave the European Union. We have stated on many occasions that the performance of the communications sections of Government departments has been woeful. This must now be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Clearing out – and making things clear

We are well aware that the vast majority of civil servants in Whitehall are Remainers. Firing the heads of communications of all the major Government departments would send a very clear message to all the civil servants working there that their incompetence and bias will no longer be tolerated.

It is not only the British public that needs to know about the EU’s bullying and vindictive behaviour, but the audience around the world too. The EU sells itself relentlessly and has consistently won the battle with its distortions and mis-directions over the exit of the UK from the EU. This must now be changed – urgently.

If the broadcast media had been doing its job over the past four years, the British public would by now be well aware of the appalling behaviour of the EU’s apparatchiks. Sadly, with the BBC, Sky News, and ITN being staffed predominantly by Remainers, the majority of the public have little idea of the extent of the EU’s malfeasance.

At least if Government departments started reporting what the EU has been up to, it would be a great deal harder for the broadcast media to present the EU’s case all the time. And that would certainly be something we could drink to.

Finally, as readers will be able to imagine, the research, writing, and presentation of our articles takes a great deal of time, to say nothing of the time we have to spend on campaigns. If we are to see this thing through to the end after almost five years of seven day-a-week work, we need your help.

The level of our donations has dropped significantly in the last month, probably partly due to the impact of the measures the Government has taken regarding COVID-19. These kind donations are currently at an unsustainably low level. We know that these are difficult times for many people, but we have to ask any reader who can to support us with a donation today so that we can continue our fight for a free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom as we approach the end game. Quick, secure, and confidential donation methods are linked to below this article and you will receive a very warm email from a member of our team. Thank you so much.

[ Sources: EU Commission official statistics (Eurostat) | Le Comité Champagne ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Fri 27 Nov 2020

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