The champagne industry, which has forged historic links with the United Kingdom, welcomed the Brexit “deal” with relief.
"
A huge relief
", even assures Jean-Marie Barrillère, president of the Union des Maisons de Champagne (UMC), who sums up: "
This is the good end of too long a story
".
The concerns of the players in the sector were all the more acute since the English market remains, for export, the leading market in terms of volume for champagne, ahead of the United States, Japan and Germany.
Between 25 and 30 million bottles are sold there each year.
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For example, a large house like Bollinger achieves a third of its annual turnover across the Channel, or 1.5 million euros out of a total of 4.5 million euros in 2019. Its production is around three million bottles per year.
As for the Joseph Perrier house in Châlons-en-Champagne (800,000 bottles per year), and for a long time official supplier to the Royal Family, it sells 20% of its production to the British market.
"
As an SME, we are not equipped to manage all the customs papers of a distant market
", was alarmed before the agreement Benjamin Fourmon, its managing director.
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“
It has been three centuries since champagne wines have conquered the hearts of the English.
We are going to remain vigilant but the links which unite Champagne and the United Kingdom allow us to be confident
”, estimates Maxime Toubart, president of the General Union of Champagne Winegrowers.
But "
vigilance remains in order, because Great Britain is leaving the European Union and the single market anyway
."