(TDB) - The market for Champagne remains a place of ups and downs. Shipments to the UK slipped 5.1% in volume and 3.8% in value last year.

This was called “unsurprising” by the Champagne Bureau who also pointed out that the UK still remains the biggest export market for Champagne at 30.8 million bottles.

The total number of bottles shipped in 2013 has dropped by five million, following a 14.2m decline in 2012. With 304m bottles sold worldwide in the last 12 months, shipments were 1.5% down on 2012, when just under 309m bottles were distributed globally, which represented a 4.4% drop on 2011, when the region sold almost 323m bottles.

Shipments to Japan, Belgium and Australia all rose last year.

In the fine wine market, where Champagne’s grandes marques have enjoyed a recent surge in popularity, prices have cooled somewhat.

The index on Liv-ex is still performing better than the struggling Bordeaux one but it has slipped by close to 2% on the year to date.

On the other hand, the CIVC recently agreed a small rise in the maximum yield this year to reflect a modest increase in shipments in the first part of this year of 1%.

This year’s top 10 brands reflect this topsy-turvy situation. Some brands have managed strong increases, others small declines.

Little has changed in the rankings though since last year, though Piper-Heidsieck’s recent reorganisation has clearly paid dividends as it leap frogs Pommery to seventh place on a 2.9% bounce.