BNIC says volumes have fallen from 230 million to 140 million bottles since 2023, leaving growers facing cancelled contracts, surpluses and a drought-hit 2026 harvest.
Cognac sales have fallen from 230 million bottles in 2023 to 140 million currently, a decrease of 90 million bottles, or 39.1%, according to figures presented by Raphaël Delpech, director of the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC). Delpech did not specify the exact statistical period covered by the 140 million figure, but he attributes the decline to the loss of traction in China and the United States, the sector's two most important export markets.
A sector exposed to foreign markets
The blow is amplified by cognac's dependence on exports. Ninety-eight percent of production is sold outside the European Union, with China absorbing around 25% of exports and the United States remaining the primary market at nearly half. With this structure, any tariff friction quickly affects wineries, winegrowers and ancillary activities in the Charente region of southwestern France, the only place where this wine brandy can be produced.
Caught in the EU-China electric vehicle dispute
Delpech argues that the sector has been caught in the crossfire of the trade dispute between Brussels and Beijing over Chinese electric vehicles. France supported the EU's response to state aid that, in Brussels' view, gave Chinese manufacturers an unfair advantage. Beijing retaliated against European brandy and, in 2024, imposed provisional tariffs of up to 34.8%, just days after the EU set tariffs of up to 35.3% on Chinese electric vehicles.
China later confirmed its measures but excluded major cognac producers that agreed to sell above undisclosed minimum prices. The BNIC maintains that the commercial damage had already been done. In Delpech's view, associating cognac with a European and French policy perceived as hostile in China alienated some consumers and led distributors to halt purchases and remove the product from shelves.
Tariff uncertainty in the United States
The pressure did not come only from Asia. During Donald Trump's first term, Washington imposed tariffs on French cognac as part of the Boeing-Airbus dispute, later suspended under Joe Biden. In April 2025, Trump launched a new round of tariffs on US trading partners, and in July of that year the EU and Washington agreed in Turnberry, Scotland, to a 15% tariff on most European exports, cognac included.
Since then, European wine and spirits producers have sought exemptions, without success for cognac. Delpech asserts that the uncertainty pushed many US importers toward safer alternatives, while inflation has raised prices at the point of sale. In July, after the EU removed the remaining tariffs on US goods covered by the Turnberry Agreement, Washington agreed to reopen talks on possible exclusions, but the BNIC and French political representatives consider progress minimal.
French MEP Éric Sargiacomo, vice-president of the European Parliament's intergroup on wines and spirits, notes that the United Kingdom has obtained results: British whisky was freed from US tariffs in May and Irish whiskey received similar treatment in mid-September. French cognac remains subject to the 15% tariff.
Consequences for Charente's vineyards
The sales drop is already affecting growers. The four major houses (Rémy Martin, Hennessy, Martell and Courvoisier) have reduced orders from winegrowers after several clients cancelled contracts. Cognac supports some 70,000 direct and indirect jobs in France, according to industry figures, with around 260 houses and a network of coopers, still makers, transporters and agricultural service companies.
Drought weighs on the 2026 harvest
Matthieu Augier, a winegrower from Gondeville, says drought has lowered the expectations held at the start of the harvest. He estimates the economic return of his crop will fall 30% to 40% compared with a normal year. This is not an official regional volume forecast but a business estimate from a single producer, expressed in economic terms. Even so, it illustrates the effect of water shortage on a season that, in his words, was progressing much better before the summer.
Uprooting programs to curb surpluses
Paradoxically, a smaller harvest helps align supply with weakened demand. Reduced sales have created surpluses and forced production adjustments, and the BNIC has launched two vineyard uprooting programs with financial support:
- Permanent removal of vines: response has been limited, with applications covering 560 hectares out of the 96,000 hectares in the Cognac appellation.
- Temporary uprooting: the winegrower keeps the vineyard but cannot replant those plots for five years. Augier admits this may be more manageable for young farmers or those reluctant to give up an asset designed to last decades.
In Charente, a vineyard is seen not as a short-term crop but as a 40- or 50-year investment and often as family heritage.
Calls for EU solidarity
The situation has sparked a political debate in Brussels and Paris. Delpech argues that the EU should have solidarity mechanisms for sectors that suffer retaliation for trade decisions taken to protect other European industries. The BNIC has conveyed this request to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and has been in contact with the EU's Trade and Agriculture departments.
French President Emmanuel Macron has visited the region several times and promised winegrowers compensation, but according to industry representatives that aid has not yet materialized. Meanwhile, cognac houses and producers remain focused on two variables beyond their control: the progress of negotiations with the United States and the capacity of the Chinese market to absorb part of a product on which they depend almost entirely for exports.
Source: Vinetur