Like the wine market as a whole, the global bulk wine trade is contracting.
That is the picture for the first six months of 2026, according to a report by Del Rey AWM for Vinexposium, published ahead of the World Bulk Wine Exhibition, which takes place in Amsterdam on November 30 and December 1.
Bulk wine is a shrinking slice of the global industry, but still a significant one. It accounts for 7% of the global wine trade by value and more than 32% by volume. Over the ten years from 2017 to 2026, the segment lost 21% in volume and 12.8% in value. The last twelve months to June 2026 were especially harsh: volumes fell 10.5% to 29.3 million hectoliters, and value dropped 10.7% to €2.3 billion, while prices held essentially steady at €0.79 per liter.
Bulk wine underperforms the broader market
The report stresses that bulk wine has fared considerably worse than wine overall. In the first half of the year, the total wine market declined by roughly 4.5% in both volume and value. Bulk wine, by contrast, fell 12.5% in value to €1.11 billion and 14.5% in volume to 14 million hectoliters.
Exporters: Spain still on top, despite a steep fall
By volume, Spain remains the leading bulk exporter with 4.7 million hectoliters, even though that is a 20.9% drop against the first half of 2025. Australia follows with 1.9 million hectoliters (-5.1%), then Italy with 1.7 million hectoliters (-2.5%).
Spain also tops the ranking by value at €261 million (-13.6%), ahead of Italy at €148 million (-4.5%) and Australia at €132 million (-3.5%). Australia’s relatively modest decline is helped, in part, by the collapse of its neighbor New Zealand, whose exports fell 27.3% to €115 million.
Importers: Germany leads on volume, the UK on value
On the buying side, the largest markets are the United Kingdom, Germany and France. By volume, Germany leads with 3.4 million hectoliters (-6.3%), followed by the UK with 2 million (-2.4%) and France with 1.7 million (-20%).
By value, the order changes. The UK is first at €262 million (-8.8%), followed by Germany at €231 million (-4.8%) and France at €104 million (-13.4%). The ranking is marked by the sharp 36.4% decline of the United States, which sits fourth at €86 million.
A price-driven, opaque market
These numbers underline the difficulties facing the wine market in general and bulk wine in particular. It is a complex segment, fiercely competitive on price (sometimes down to a few cents) and hard to monitor.
VRAC Index: bringing transparency to bulk trade
Against this backdrop comes a new tool, the VRAC Index. Founded by Michael Bennett, it consolidates prices, volumes, stocks and customs flows for bulk wine from public sources in producing countries. It currently covers 30 countries, Italy included, drawing on 14 official sources.
“Historically, the bulk wine trade has been based on phone calls, relationships, and instinct,” Bennett explains. “The data exists, but it is fragmented across 14 different public sources and five languages. The VRAC Index brings these flows together in a single, fully documented dashboard, allowing teams to verify the market before closing a deal.”
He adds that the platform’s goal is to “replace opaqueness with open information, so that every link in the supply chain can set prices accurately.” In his view, open data makes markets fairer: when producing countries publish their market data, both winemakers and buyers benefit. The index’s coverage map shows which countries share their data and which do not yet, “not to point fingers, but to encourage every market to open up.”
Source: WineNews