spirit grew significantly in 2013, especially in North America and Africa. The Breau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC) issued a statement saying that sales of cognac reached their highest level ever in terms of value in 2013.
Sales by value in 2013 rose by 0.2% year-on-year to €2.4 billion. However, the volume of bottles sold fell 4% to 161.4 million in 2013, still the third highest amount ever.
Exports to the US rose 1.9% in volume and 5.1% in value last year, the BNIC said. A total of 3.2 million bottles were shipped to Africa in 2013, marking a fantastic 26.7% increase. However, shipments to the Asia-Pacific region fell in both volumes and value by 9.8% and 3.8% respectively, reflecting the slowdown in the Chinese market after a decade of growth.
"Shipments of Cognac remain at a high level in the context of an global economic downturn," BNIC's statement said.
