Wine to Denmark

(Last updated: 5 Sept 2008)

Trends and opportunities

The market

The Danish wine market continues to be very price sensitive with about 80 per cent of wines being sold through supermarkets and other self-service outlets. About 75 per cent of all wine sold in Denmark is retailed off-trade at price points of about A$10 or below.

Although the volume of wine consumed in Denmark is steady at 200 million litres, the value has dropped by about 15 per cent in the last year. There is a strong preference for red wine, which by volume accounts for about 75 per cent of the overall table wine market.

Unlike the other Scandinavian countries, cask wine still has a relatively small share, roughly 15 per cent, of the Danish wine market however this is changing rapidly. There is no government monopoly on wine retailing in Denmark, as in the other Scandinavian countries.

Danish gross wine imports in 2007 remained at 200 million litres of which about 90 million litres were in bulk. These figures do not include the increasing inward bound cross-border trade, which is estimated to account for about 15 per cent of the market.

Denmark remains one of Australia’s growth markets for wine exports. This growth however, does not reflect a similar growth in consumption of Australian wine in Denmark. A large quantity of Australian bulk wine exported to Denmark is packed and trans-shipped to other countries in Europe.

Today about 100 importers distribute more than 300 brands of Australian wine in Denmark. The uptake of new Australian brands has slowed down significantly after a large number of newcomers have entered the market over the past five years. Awareness of the variety of wines available from Australia is now beginning to filter down to the average consumer.

Research shows that Danish consumers purchase wine by three key factors: price, country of origin and grape variety. Factors such as label/presentation, brand recognition and press reviews are important as well.

Competitive environment

Major exporters of wine to Denmark are France, Italy, Chile, Australia and Spain. French wine continues to dominate the industry, however, the French market share has been declining for a number of years. In 1989 French wine made up 67 per cent of the Danish market. By 1997 this figure had fallen to 43 per cent, and it fell even further, to less than 20 per cent, in 2007.

Amongst the New World wine suppliers especially Chile has been steadily increasing its market share in recent years. By the end of 2007 Chile held 14 per cent of the market. New World suppliers now hold more than 40 per cent of the Danish wine market.

Australia's share of the Danish wine market is about 12 per cent.

The 10 major players in the Danish wine trade are:

• COOP
• Dansk Supermarked
• SuperGros
• V&S Wine
• Taster Wine
• Amka
• Chris Wine
• H.J. Hansen
• Philipson Wine
• Sigurd Müller Vinhandel

Tariffs, regulations and customs

The Ministry of Taxation together with the Danish Customs Service, controls tariffs and permissions to import liquor (eg. wine, beer and spirits). These authorities set the regulations and taxes for liquor imported into Denmark.

Import licences are required, but are readily available to the importer, who must provide a deposit in order to guarantee the correct procedures of importation. The deposit is refunded upon import clearance.

Current excise rates (as of 9 January 2005)

Marketing your products and services

Market entry

Austrade Copenhagen assists Australian wine exporters by offering market entry and expansion services:

• Service to Australian wine exporters seeking a qualified Danish importer: The Business-to-Business Package.
• Service to Australian wine exporters already exporting to Denmark: The Winery Portrait Package.
• A key channel for delivering these services is www.australskvin.dk (ie. www.australianwine.dk) which provides comprehensive and current information in Danish about wine from Australia to wine trade, press, wine clubs, sommeliers, wine buyers and consumers in Denmark. Launched in 2001 by the Australian Trade Commission in Denmark www.australskvin.dk is the leading Danish source of current information about Australian wine.

For further information please email Thomas Andersen or telephone +45 3527 0050. 

Distribution channels

In spite of the concentration of distribution in the large supermarket groups there is a tradition for many specialist wine shops in Denmark, both chains/alliances and independent shops. Currently many new hobby-based importers, or garage-importers as they are also called, are mushrooming up. It is estimated that there are at least 1000 wine importers in Denmark of which most are very small with sales to only family and friends.

Most of the larger Danish importers are already distributing one or more Australian wine brands. However, there are still gaps of opportunity for newcomers. With a number of both new and established small and medium sized importers without Australian labels in their portfolio, some are seeking to identify suitable suppliers. Many Australian exporters have concentrated their efforts in the Copenhagen area but more can be done to develop business with importers in other regions of Denmark.