Luxury giant LVMH posted first-quarter 2025 revenue of €20.311 billion, down 2% year-on-year. Its Wines & Spirits division generated €1.305 billion, an 8% decline.
The drop was driven largely by a 17% fall in Cognac and other spirits, while Champagne and still wines slipped just 1%. LVMH said it had slightly adjusted Champagne prices to reflect a normalization of demand, but noted that weak consumer appetite in China and the U.S., coupled with uncertainty over potential tariffs, weighed heavily on its spirits business.
In China, LVMH’s portfolio spans Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Ruinart and Krug Champagnes; Château d’Yquem and other premium estates; its bestselling single white-wine label Cloudy Bay; and the high-end Ao Yun estate in Yunnan’s Shangri-La region.
Its Cognac brand, Hennessy, alongside Rémy Martin and Martell, was considered the three most popular brandy brands and was hit hardest. A softening business consumption market and the anti-dumping probe into EU brandy launched last year have significantly dented its sales.
According to the latest customs data compiled by us, in Q1 2025, China imported 2.443 million liters of brandy valued at US$57.14 million, down 63% by volume and 77.3% by value from a year earlier; French shipments accounted for 96.8% of that total.
Since December 2024, China’s customs authority has suspended online clearance for duty-free Cognac—a key sales channel at airports and in Hainan, as we have reported —resulting in no recorded duty-free brandy imports from January through March 2025.
Beijing’s preliminary September 2024 finding set anti-dumping margins at 30.6% to 39% and required importers to post security deposits or bank guarantees. Although definitive duties have yet to be imposed and the investigation has been extended twice to conclude on July 5, 2025, the looming tariffs and trade barriers have already taken a tangible toll on LVMH’s Cognac exports to China.
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