Cava loses 13% of sales in 2024, before Trump's tariffs

BarcelonaWineries in the Cava designation of origin (DO) reduced their sales by 13.4% in 2024, to 218 million bottles, while they anxiously await the impact of the future 200% tariffs on European wine announced by US President Donald Trump.

Thus, the Cava DO as a whole sold almost 20 million fewer bottles last year than in 2023, although the drop in turnover is smaller, at 4.2%, to €2.27 billion. The president of the DO's regulatory council, Javier Pagés, highlighted the revaluation of cava in the market this Tuesday during the annual results presentation, with fewer products sold but at a higher price. In this regard, Pagés highlighted the sale of 22.4 million bottles of higher-aged cavas, the highest quality.

By market, Spain remains the most prominent, with 78 million bottles sold, 13.4% of the total and 3.5% less than the previous year, although in value it increased by 3.7%. Of these sales, the Catalan market represents approximately a third of the Spanish market, although in terms of population Catalonia is 16% of the state's population and a fifth of the Spanish economy.

Internationally, sales per bottle fell by 7.8% compared to a year ago, to 140 million. Belgium represented the most notable market, with 20.3 million bottles sold, followed by the United States, with 17.8 million. The United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany are the other most notable markets.

The decline in sales is precisely due to two factors, as The DO had already advanced last DecemberOne is the drought that has been ongoing for three years, which has drastically reduced production, especially in the Penedès region, where most of the vineyards that produce cava grapes are concentrated. In this regard, Pagés said that a large part of the decline in sales "has to do with stocks in the wineries," which have fallen after years of reduced harvests.

The other is the drop in sales in the German market, mainly explained by the change in Freixenet's (the largest cava producer) business model in the country, where it has stopped selling cava and is exporting an alternative sparkling wine. "Germany is a country that has a lot of weight in cava," Pagés indicated.

Fear of tariffs in the US

Wineries are awaiting confirmation of the tariffs announced by Donald Trump. "Will they have an effect? Obviously," said Pagés. However, the president of the DO stated that the sector still doesn't have exact estimates of how they will be impacted because the US administration hasn't announced anything beyond the president's statements.

Pagés lamented that cava, which he described as a "leisure product," is caught in the trade war launched by the White House. "Cava shouldn't have any kind of tariff. We are exporters by nature and we want free trade," he added.