Workers at a bottling facility for the Hennessy cognac brand have walked out in response to suggestions that owner Moët Hennessy could shift some bottling to China, according to recent reports.
Producers trade association the Syndicat des Maisons de Cognac, which includes Hennessy among its member, has floated the idea following China’s decision last month to raise tariffs on all grape-based spirits imported from the European Union. The move to in-market bottling would circumvent the increase, the SMC believes.
Citing a regional representative for the CGT labour union, Reuters reported yesterday that around half the workforce at Hennessy’s bottling plant in Cognac have stopped work. The strike, in reaction to Moët Hennessy’s proposal to “send a sample shipment of 1,000 litres of its VSOP cognac to China to test the product’s stability”, is expected to continue into today, Michael Lablanche told the news service.
The trial is expected to commence on 15 December, according to a local newspaper. If successful, Reuters reported Lablanche as claiming, “the group will relocate the whole VSOP bottling line to China … to handle … all of its 2025 China sales”.
Global Drinks Intel has contacted Moët Hennessy for comment.
In results from the first nine months of 2024, announced last month, Moët Hennessy booked an 8% year-on-year decline in sales, with the final quarter likely to be negatively impacted by the situation for Hennessy in China. Separately, CEO Philippe Schaus is set to make way for Jean-Jacques Guiony early next year.
