(Wine-Searcher) - A run of small vintages is having an impact on France's export earnings.

For the fourth consecutive year, French exports of wines and spirits exceeded €10 billion in 2014, but the lack of availability due to reduced harvests has left concerned producers facing "very strong" international competition.

France's Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits (FEVS) reported that 2014 was the "third-best historical performance", with sales of €10.8bn ($12.3bn) – or the equivalent of the sales of 140 Airbus passenger airplanes – but turnover fell by 2.8 per cent, reflecting a decline in both volume and value of sales.

"This situation is mainly caused by the low availability of our products, partly offset by a rise in prices. But it can weaken our position on certain markets," warned Christophe Navarre, president of the FEVS.

Wine made up 61 percent of the total beverage alcohol exports, but it decreased by 3.3 percent in volume. Burgundy and Bordeaux appellations took strong hits, falling 13 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively.

However, Champagne remains in rude health, making up one-third of all wine exports with 143 million 12-bottles cases, a rise of 5.2 percent on last year. Overall, Champagne, Cognac, Bordeaux and Burgundy provide two-thirds of exports by value.

Overall, 20 countries accounted for 87 percent of exports, or €9.4bn; the United States is still the leading market, but the U.K., which serves such as platform of redistribution to China and Asia, plummeted by 10 percent.

South Korea and the United Arab Emirates recorded the highest increase in sales in 2014 (each up 31 percent) to break into the top 15 export markets. "Mainly thanks to the airlines, who buy great wines", confessed Louis-Fabrice Latour, president and CEO of Maison Louis Latour, a major Burgundy producer and négociant.

Latour said Burgundy producers were concerned about a series of smaller harvests. "We need two good harvests to rebuild stocks."

Burgundy is still attractive to buyers, but has become too expensive, he acknowledged. "We feel a real reluctance in some markets. The lack of bottles under the psychological threshold of $10 or €10, it complicates life."

In Languedoc, the reduced crop two years in a row also concerned producers. The harvest of 12 million hectoliters in 2013 was two-thirds the size of those from five or six years ago, Antoine Leccia, CEO of merchant AdVini, said.