Wine imports 4 percent up in 2010

Last year, 415 million litres of wine were imported, an increase by 4 percent from 2009. Wine imports from the United Kingdom (UK), Italy, Chile and Spain increased noticeably, while the largest wine-supplying countries, France and Germany, lost more than one percentage points of their market share.

Wine imports, largest countries

Share France down, no increase German wine imports

The share of France in Dutch wine imports fell for the seventh year running in 2010, but with a market share of over 25 percent, France still retains its number-one position. In the latter half of the 1990s, nearly half of the total volume of wine imported into the Netherlands came from France.

After five consecutive years of growth, the German market share dropped by 3 percent to 75 million litres. With a market share of over 18 percent, Germany occupies second place, after France, on the list of most important wine-exporting countries.

Increasing share wine imports from United Kingdom

More wine is imported from the UK. Currently, the UK market share in the Netherlands is 5 percent and higher than the market share of countries like Australia, Portugal and Argentina.

Dutch wine imports, 2010

Share wine-exporting countries outside Europe back to the level of 2009

With 22 percent, the market share of wine-exporting countries outside Europe in total wine imports is at exactly the same level as in 2009. The largest wine-exporting countries outside Europe with market shares of 8 and 6 percent respectively are Chile and South Africa.

Vineyard area in the Netherlands doubled

The vineyard area in the Netherlands has doubled over the past half decade to 165 hectares (ha) in 2011, nearly 7 ha more than in 2010. Within the Dutch fruit-growing sector, the vineyard area is expanding very rapidly.

The average vineyard has increased from 1.2 ha in 2003 to 1.7 ha in 2011. The area per vineyard has remained stable over the past 4 years.

95 wine growers in the Netherlands

The number of vineyards has more than doubled over the past five years to 95. The number of vineyards increased by 6 in 2011 relative to 2010. Five years ago, there were 61 vineyards.

Wiel Packbier and Renzo Ghianni