From champagne sales, the French last year secured a record 4.75 billion euros

Sales of French champagne reached a record 4.75 billion euros last year, attributed to increased overseas demand for the famous French sparkling wines, according to the latest data from the French producers’ association.

Compared to 2014, this figure increased by 5.6 percent, with a total of 312.5 million bottles delivered last year, što is 1.7 percent more than the previous year.  However, the record year for the number of bottles sold remains 2007, with a total of 339 million bottles sold, although its total value then reached 4.56 billion euros. Sales to countries outside the EU rose by 4.8 percent last year, to a record 70.5 million bottles, and average prices per bottle were higher due to increased transport costs, the association reported.

– Those distant markets are willing to pay the right price for a product that they believe symbolizes the French way of life, said Thibaut Le Mailloux from the local industry association Comite Inteprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) to AFP.

– These buyers are actually usually interested in “rarer and more expensive” series, such as “rose, vintage and prestige champagne, he emphasized.

Sales within France last year were at the same level as the previous year, with 162 million bottles sold, after declining for several consecutive years. In Europe, sales increased by 3.3 percent last year, to 80.2 million bottles, continuing the upward trend from the previous year, the French association announced. December was, unsurprisingly, again the most successful month, with a total of 42 million bottles of champagne sold, further data from the association showed.

Jean-Marie Barillere, the deputy president of CIVC, stated in December that the value of sales is likely to continue growing faster than its volume “in the decades to come.”