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Wine exports from Germany clearly showed a negative trend during the first six months of the year. In comparison with the same period of 2009 the quantities went down by 13 per cent to reach 900.000 hl, as the German Wine Institute (DWI) recently communicated. This perpetuates the tendency of last year, when the industry had already lost 4.3 per cent in exports during the same period of the year.

Although the DWI strengthened the fact that the decline concerned mainly the ordinary table wines, while exports of "quality wines" (which in include the normal Qualitätsweine as well as the Prädikatsweine) rose by 6 per cent. But if you look more closely on the value of the exported quality wines, even that segment of the market raises some doubts. As the quantity of exported quality wines rose by 8 per cent, 2 points more than the values, this means that the value per liter is clearly on a downturn move as well.

While business in countries outside the European Union still seems to develop positively (+ 14 per cent in quantities and + 13 % in values), and while in particular the important US market keeps growing (+ 10 per cent in quantities and even + 11 % in values), Germany's wine industry, inside the EU, loses ground even more rapidly than the overall figures suggest.