Well that and the fact that people in the West don't seem to be drinking as much as they did 50 or 100 or 150 years ago.
From EuroNews, September 27:
French Cognac producers are battling falling sales as trade disputes with China and the US squeeze the export-dependent industry and leave growers seeking EU support.
As the Cognac harvest draws to a close in southwestern France, winegrowers already know they face another difficult year.
Cognac makers are struggling. The 300-year-old amber brandy is only produced around the Charente River, but it has been caught in the trade wars between the EU and China, as well as by tensions with its top export market, the US.
For months, producers have watched largely powerless as access to both markets has been squeezed.
The industry has a historic connection to the EU. Jean Monnet, the French statesman regarded as one of the EU's founding fathers, came from a Cognac-producing family and worked in the family business.
Today, however, the sector is in disarray as sales plummet. Cognac is overwhelmingly dependent on foreign markets, with 98% of production exported outside the EU.
“Collateral damage” from trade wars
Ironically, this year's drought has helped bring supply closer to falling demand.“We thought the harvest was going to be promising, but in the end the drought took its toll,” Matthieu Augier, a winegrower in Gondeville, told Euronews. “Compared with a typical year, we’re looking at a 30 to 40% reduction in the harvest in economic terms. You could say in a way that nature helps regulate our surpluses.”
Since 2023, Cognac sales have fallen from 230 million to 140 million bottles. The four main trading houses – Rémy Martin, Hennessy, Martell and Courvoisier – had to slash their orders from winegrowers in the region after clients cancelled contracts....
....MUCH MORE
In the U.S. the Baby Boomers are increasing both their "heavy" drinking and their "binge" drinking, the only age group to do so:
