Champagne bottles.

Comité Champagne, the champagne region’s production and trade association, has announced the global total of champagne bottles shipped in 2017 was 308 million, representing a 0.5% increase from the 2016 figure of 306 million.

This was down on the predicted shipping volume of 312 million bottles. Central to explaining the lower increase than expected is the disappointing performance of champagne in France and the UK, the product’s largest two markets.

According to figures from Nielsen, the volume of champagne sold in the UK declined by 20%–the number of bottles sold through UK retailers decreased by 3.4 million from 16.7 million in 2016 to 13.3 million in 2017. This follows a decline of three million bottles in 2016. The value of the UK champagne market also fell by 11%.

The decline of the UK champagne market is linked to rising prices–the average price of a bottle of champagne in the UK grew by 12% compared to 2016 to exceed £20 for the first time. This has been attributed to the devaluation of sterling triggered by the Brexit vote in June 2016 and an increasing price of grapes in the Champagne region of France.

The UK Champagne Agents Association said that consumers should expect further price increases in the next couple of years.

This global slow-down in growth in volume sales of champagne, and the decline in France and the UK, is not equally spread across all champagne brands. For example, Möet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) saw 5% revenue growth to a total of €42.6 billion in 2017. Volume sales increased by 8%, which represents 2.4 million more bottles being shipped globally than in 2016. The markets that contributed the most to LMVH rise were the US, and China; there were also strong advances in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. LVMH volume sales in the UK did not decline in 2017 but they did stagnate.

Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LMVH, said: “LVMH achieved another record year. The excellent performance, to which all our businesses contributed, is due in part to the buoyant environment but above all to the remarkable creative strength of our brands and their ability to constantly reinvent themselves.”