At first glance, the European Union's beverage export figures for the first half of 2026 look almost unchanged from a decade ago: €17.511 billion, against €17.527 billion in the same period of 2015 — a difference of just €16 million.
But that headline number, drawn from the European Commission's agri-food trade report published August 28 with Eurostat COMEXT data through June, hides a story of one category propping up two others.
Wine and beer both lost ground
Wine and wine-based products, the EU's single largest beverage export category, fell 4% year-on-year, from €8.173 billion to €7.844 billion — a €330 million loss. That builds on an existing slide: annual wine exports dropped from €17.455 billion in 2024 to €16.5 billion in 2025. Even so, wine remains comfortably in surplus, with the trade balance at €7.173 billion for the half-year, down €281 million from €7.454 billion in H1 2025, as imports held at €671 million.
The beer, cider, and other-beverages category — which the Commission reports as a single bloc without further breakdown — slipped 2%, from €5.334 billion to €5.242 billion, a €92 million decline. That followed an annual drop from €10.835 billion in 2024 to €10.511 billion in 2025. Imports in the category came to €1.2 billion, for a surplus of €4.042 billion, down €47 million on the year.
Spirits did the heavy lifting
Spirits and liqueurs moved in the opposite direction, climbing 10% from €4.02 billion to €4.425 billion — a €405 million gain that reversed a prior annual slide from €8.769 billion in 2024 to €8.360 billion in 2025. The Commission points to Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Russia as the main drivers: Ukraine saw spirits contribute more to export growth than any other category, Kazakhstan's gain came from higher prices, and Russia's from larger shipped volumes. No further split of the €405 million across those three markets was given.
Spirits imports also rose, up 6% to €2.168 billion from €2.052 billion, but export growth outpaced that, pushing the trade surplus from €1.968 billion to €2.257 billion — a €289 million improvement. Notably, spirits made up only about a quarter of the three categories' combined exports, yet more than half of their combined imports, underlining a very different trade structure from wine's.
Why the total barely moved
Do the math and the mechanism becomes clear: wine and beer/cider together shed €422 million in exports, while spirits alone added €405 million back — covering nearly all of the gap. Total imports across the three sectors reached €4.039 billion, for a combined surplus of €13.472 billion, only €39 million below the €13.511 billion posted in H1 2025. Wine still supplies the bulk of that surplus, at roughly 53%, ahead of beer/cider's 30% and spirits' remaining share. The Commission also flagged the United States as a market where EU beverage exports weakened in the first half, attributing the drop chiefly to lower prices rather than volume, though it did not separate the effect by product.
Source: VinoVistara