What happened? We have received the latest Cognac shipment data from BNIC for August 2025. While we make our usual caution on not reading too much into short-term trends (which can be very volatile), our key takeaways are below. BNPP Exane View: Cognac shipment volumes out of the Cognac region declined by -34% in August to leave QTD at -30% and marking a deterioration in trend (cf. Q2 -5%, Q1 -14%). Looking at trends relative to a pre-pandemic (2019) base, QTD shipments were -51% below (cf. Q2 -38%, Q1 -24%). Global Cognac shipments YoY (HL/%) / Source: BNIC, BNP Paribas Exane NAFTA Cognac shipments to the NAFTA region declined -55% in August to leave QTD at -48% (cf. Q2 +2%, Q1 +1%). Compared with 2019 levels, NAFTA QTD shipments were -68% below (cf. Q2 -45%, Q1 -22%). NAFTA Cognac shipments YoY (HL/%) / Source: BNIC, BNP Paribas Exane Far East Cognac shipments to the Far East region declined by -28% in the month to leave QTD at -27% (cf. Q2 -13%, Q1 -44%). Compared with 2019 levels, Far East QTD shipments were -41% below (cf. Q2 -40%, Q1 -38%). Far East Cognac shipments YoY (HL/%) / Source: BNIC, BNP Paribas Exane Europe Cognac shipments to the Europe region grew +2% in August to leave QTD shipments at -7% (cf. Q2 -8%, Q1 -21%). Compared with 2019 levels, Europe shipments declined by -15% in QTD (cf. Q2 -31%, Q1 -37%). By Quality By quality, VS shipments out of the Cognac region declined by -43% in August to leave QTD at -38% (cf. Q2 -1%, Q1 -14%). VSOP shipments declined by -18% to leave QTD at -15% (cf. Q2 -10%, Q1 -15%). Finally, XO shipments declined by -41% to leave QTD at -32% (cf. Q2 -4%, Q1 -12%).