No, Nigeria Is Not the World’s Biggest Champagne Consumer After France

Certainly by 2014, media institutions like Business Today in the US and Mail & Guardian Africa reported that champagne consumption, or sales, in Nigeria was the second largest in the world. City Press then wrote earlier this year “Nigeria is fast becoming the second champagne capital in the world, trailing only France – which actually produces the bubbly.”

So where does Nigeria rank?

Nigerians do love French champagne, to be certain. Data shows Nigeria ranks just outside the world’s top 20 depending on the measure used.

Looking at imports, Nigeria was the 23rd largest champagne importer in the world in 2014. The country imported 768,131 bottles, Brigitte Batonnet told Africa Check. She is a researcher at the Comité Champagne, a trade association that represents growers and producers in France.

The top three countries on their list was the UK (around 34 million bottles), the US (19 million bottles) and Germany (around 13 million bottles).

The UK and US have maintained their top two positions for the past several years, Batonnet said. “[Nigeria] has never appeared in the top 10. But Nigeria has been, for some years now, the [top] importer of champagne in Africa.”

Counting bottles sold, Nigeria came in 22nd in 2014, a market analyst at the International Wine and Spirits Research, a private research company, told Africa Check. Daniel Mettyear said his company has recorded 1.1 million bottles of champagne sold in Nigeria – compared to 303 million bottles in France.

Actual sales could be higher, though. “A lot of exports are under-declared in order to avoid taxes, particularly with luxury goods such as champagne,” Mettyear said.

Source: All Africa

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