The global Catalan cork sector has increased its value by 16.67% compared to 2020, the best figure in recent years.
Catalan exports of cork stoppers for sparkling wines increased by 25.2% in value in 2021, surpassing the data for 2018, 2019 and 2020 both in tons of exported stoppers and in euros. As for the natural cork stopper, exports in Catalonia had an increase of 4% in value in 2021 compared to the previous year, establishing figures higher than those of 2019 both in tons and in euros. These are data collected by the Association of Cork Entrepreneurs of Catalonia (AECORK) by means of figures published in the foreign trade database of the Tax Office.
Overall, the total of the Catalan cork sector has had an increase in value of 16.67% compared to 2020, placing in data higher than 2019 in both tons and euros. In this last parameter, the value parameter, the historical one has also been exceeded since 2016.
In comparison with the rest of Spain, Catalonia represents in value 93.45% of Spanish exports of sparkling wine stoppers and 55% of the total exported in terms of natural cork stopper.
Joan J. Puig, President of AECORK, considers that these data show that “the post-pandemic recovery is effective and that the Catalan cork sector remains a leading national leader in exports of sparkling wine stoppers and with half of the country’s natural cork stoppers exports. This good health of the Catalan cork sector also has positive forestry implications with an increase in the management of cork oaks and their associated environmental, economic or social benefits”.
Export figures by country
If you look at the figures by country, France is the main importer of natural cork stoppers, followed by Italy, Switzerland and the United States. As regards cork stoppers for sparkling wine, Italy, France, Portugal and the United States are the main importing countries. It should be noted that Portugal has increased its imports by 113% compared to 2020, while Italy and France have increased their imports by 20% and 28% respectively in 2021.
As for the wine stopper, 97.34% of the exported value and 93% of the weight are distributed among 10 countries. As for the cava stopper, exports of 99.6% of the value and 99.20% of the weight are also distributed among a dozen countries.
SOURCE: VINETUR.COM