(Reuters) - The value of French wine and spirits exports reached an all-time high last year, mainly helped by a weak euro, strong demand for champagne and cognac and a recovery in the Chinese market, but producers warned there was a further drop in volumes.

After two years of decreases, sales abroad of French wine and spirits rebounded to reach a record 11.7 billion euros ($13.2 billion) in 2015, up 8.7 percent from the previous year, the sector's export federation FEVS said on Wednesday.

The increase put the sector back in second place in the rankings for the largest export industries in France, behind aerospace and ahead of perfumes and cosmetics, with net exports totalling 10.4 billion euros and equivalent to the price of 126 Airbus aircraft, FEVS said.

"There is a clear advantage from the euro and low oil prices helped on further-away markets," said FEVS's chairman, Christophe Navarre, after a news conference.

He declined to give a forecast for 2016.

"It's like the weather, you have to take it when it's good and adapt when it's bad," he said.

About 60 percent of French wine and spirits exports are made outside the European Union.

The United States remained France's largest market, helped by growing demand for high-value products and the favourable exchange rate making euro-denominated wines more competitive.

The U.S. market now accounts for 22 percent of French wine and spirits exports at 2.6 billion euros, up more than 28 percent in 2015.

French exports to Asia were boosted by a near 23 percent rise in wine and spirits sales to China, where the market had been subdued by the clampdown on extravagant spending.

But the economic slowdown in China caused FEVS to remain cautious in its forecasts for sales in 2016.

Cognac was the main driver of the spirits sector, with a near 20 percent jump in exports by value to 2.6 billion euros but lower vodka sales limited total growth for spirits exports to 13 percent, to 3.7 billion euros.

The wine sector was buoyed by champagne exports which rose by 12 percent by value in 2015 to 2.7 billion euros, bringing total wine exports to 7.9 billion euros, a rise of 6.7 percent on 2014.