US buyers have accounted for the greatest percentage of purchases in the fine wine industry for the first time, Liv-ex’s annual fine wine report has said – but with Trump 2.0 tariffs looming on the horizon, the market remains uncertain. According to the 2024 fine wine market report, US buyers now account for 34.8% of global buyers, up from 25.7% in 2023, giving them the largest share in purchases for the first time, while also being the only region in which total value of purchases rose on 2023 by an impressive 16.0%. However, with Trump set to take the White House in January, “uncertainty that has ratcheted up in the US over the past month”, the report said. We already know that tariffs “appear a certainty”, while the impact of forex and the “wider US macroeconomic context will play an important role”. “Markets do not like uncertainty, and with US buyers playing a increasingly prominent role, further unpredictability is not going to be met with open arms,” the report noted. Wine Cap’s latest report also noted the rise in demand for fine wine in the US, boosted by the strengthened US dollar. It noted that rising US Treasury yields had been “driven by expectations of future interest rate hikes”, attracting capital inflows and strengthening the US dollar, thereby reinforcing investor confidence in US economic policies. However at the same time, this has raised concerns about higher borrowing costs and a “potential drag on economic growth”, while concerns over increased tariffs
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Fine Wine
