The numbers are in. The overall Cognac shipments went up by 11,9%, compared between June 2010 and May 2011.

That makes 442 667 hectolitres, and is almost at the record level of 2007 when Cognac country was exporting 456 582 hectolitres.

173,4 million bottles

Asia (that’s South East Asia, China, Japan) + 25,4% to 53,3 million bottles
Europe + 9,1% at 47,8 million bottles
Americas (only USA, Canada, Mexico) + 2,5% 50,6 million bottles
Other countries + 14,2% equal 6,4 million bottles

Geographic Cognac Sales per year/hectolitre: Grey Americas, Yellow EU, Red Asia, Brown Other Countries

The graph above shows the development of shipments between 2007 and 2011. Asia just overtook USA, Mexcio and Canada with a market share of 33,7%, while Americas represent 32% of shipped hectolitres. Europe has a marketshare of 26% and the rest is at 8,5%.

Old Cognacs on the rise

The different ages are VS, VSOP and old qualities such as XO, Hors d’age etc.

VS + 2,6% that’s 70,8 million bottles
VSOP + 18,4% the middle age quality did 65,2 million bottles
Old Cognac +28,4% to 22,1 million bottles

Let’s also have a look at the top cognac importing countries (sorry it’s in french, but you’ll get it.. “Etats Unis” is USA, obviously).

Top 10 Cognac importing countries June 2010 - May 2011

QS stands for Qualité Supérieures, that means old Cognacs (VSOP, XO and older) and VS for young Cognac.

Source: BNIC
Pic: BNIC