Economy / Specialised Poles / Cognac:
MERCHANTS

 

The main traders are in Cognac and Jarnac on the banks of the river Charente - the river that was once used for transporting Cognac to the Atlantic ports from where it was shipped throughout the world.

These traders buy equally from the private distillers, the professional distillers and the co-operatives.

Each of the great names in Cognac carries out its own blending and ageing in accordance with its own tradition.

They sell 99% of Cognac.

They commercialise 99% of all Cognac and the biggest are part of large international groups for which they represent one of the most well known products:
Hennessy (Louis - Vuitton - Moët Hennessy)
Rémy-Martin (CLS Rémy Cointreau)
Martell (Pernod Ricard)
Courvoisier (Fortune Brands), etc...
Which provides the with considerable means, both in terms of sales and distribution thanks to networks that have been developed with numerous countries.

  

 

Cognac is virtually omnipresent throughout the world and of the 145 million bottles equivalent output for 2002 (including its variants: pineau, liqueurs…), 122.8 millions (excluding variants) were exported to three main markets:
Europe (51.3 million bottles equivalent or 41.8%)
6 European Union countries are among the top ten world markets for Cognac. Expressed as standard bottles, we have: the United Kingdom (10. 4), Germany (7.4), Finland (3.7), Norway (3.3), Netherlands (3).
For its part, France takes up 8.2 million bottles, ranking it third in the world.
The ALENA* (46.9 million bottles equivalent or 38%)
Expressed in numbers of bottles, the United States of America is the leading importer of Cognac with some 44.5 million bottles.
*North American Free Trade Agreement: United States, Canada, Mexico
Asia (23 million bottles equivalent or 18.7%)
Japan (5.2), Hong Kong (and China) (4.8) and Singapore (4.4) feature among the top ten international Cognac markets in 5th, 6th, and 8th place respectively.

[ Cognac: Summary ]


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