WINE MARKET IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

In the paper were analyzed the wine market in the European Union. The basic data source is Global Trade Atlas, in the time interval from 2010 to 2012. The wine production in the European Union is around 164 thousand hectolitres. In export structure dominate the bottled wines (67.9%), and then follow the wine in bulk (22.7%), the lowest share is of the sparkling wine with 9.4%. The largest wine export has been directed to USA market (23.3%), and then follows the Russian Federation (16.3%) and China (9.9%). The biggest
wine exporter in the European Union is Italy, then Spain and France. The European Union represents compellingly the biggest world wine importer, while the average import amounted 13.607.000 hectolitres. In import structure dominate the wine in bulk (57.2%), then the bottled wines (41.7%), while the lowest share has the sparkling wines, with share of totally one percentage. The largest import is from Australia (25.3%), then Chile (21.6%) and South-African Republic (20.3%). The biggest importer is Germany, and then follows Great Britain and France. The European Union has a positive balance of wine foreign trade exchange, approximately over six thousand hectolitres. In the following period can be expected a trend of export growth from the Union, but with significantly more moderate tempo, owing to a notable saturation of the international market.