As Trump’s tariffs deepen crisis for France’s $3 billion cognac industry, Christophe Fillioux’s family estate in the cognac region of southwest France is working with its distribution partners to try to develop new markets in Nigeria and other countries including Thailand, Vietnam.
The Cognac region in France is famous for producing Cognac, and some of the most well-known brands include Hennessy, Rémy Martin, Martell, and Courvoisier.
“The situation is very hard to navigate. We’ve got a huge visibility problem,” Fillioux told Reuters while standing in a vineyard planted by his father in 1980 – the year he was born.
Worse may be to come. Trump has threatened 200% tariffs on European wine and spirits if Europe hits US bourbon with additional duties.
The option for Christophe Fillioux is to develop new markets and he finds Nigeria attractive.
According to a study by webhaptic.com, the wine market in Nigeria is estimated to be around $522.7 m in market size in 2024. Experts say the disposition of Nigerians towards wine consumption is growing.
Nigeria with a population of over 200 million is the largest market in Africa for U.S. wines with imports valued at $7.8 million in 2024, a 65 percent increase from 2023, according to reports.
According to Reuters report, U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision this week to slap 20% tariffs on all European goods is deepening the pain for France’s nearly $3 billion cognac industry, which was already being buffeted by global trade tensions.
In October, the Cognac region’s 4,000 growers were targeted by Beijing with tariffs following the European Union’s levies on Chinese-made electric vehicles. Since then, cognac sales to China, its second-largest market by volume, have plunged by more than half.
With the U.S. – the world’s top cognac consumer – accounting for one out of every two bottles sold, Trump’s tariffs have left many growers apprehensive.
Fillioux, the 45-year-old owner and master blender of the Jean Fillioux cognac house, founded in 1894 by his great-great-great grandfather, had already torn out half a hectare of old vineyards. He plans to uproot another hectare-and-a-half next year as part of an industry-wide plan to help growers through the crisis, according to Reuters.
Cognac exports to the U.S. last year roughly amounted to 1 billion euros ($1.10 billion). And the U.S is also France’s top export market for wine: sales rose 8% last year to $2.3 billion last year, according to the Federation of Wine and Spirits Exporters, partly as buyers stocked up in anticipation of Trump’s policies.
