World markets may be spinning amid a turmoil without precedent for 80 years, but traders' heads are not.

Their enforced sobriety is amongst the reasons for a worldwide drop in champagne consumption for the first time in almost a decade, according to figures released yesterday.

The Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, the champagne producers' professional body, said global sales had fallen by 2.6 per cent in the first eight months of this year.

Exports to the US have suffered a particularly dramatic slump, down by 22 per cent in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2007 as New Yorkers and other once-wealthy Americans turn to cheaper tipples.

In a sign that champagne remains one of the most reliable barometres of the world economic climate, sales in the US began to decline in March 2007 - before the subprime crisis may headline news.

They have continued to drop every month since then.

Moet & Chandon, Dom Perignon, Mumm and Perrier-Jouet are amongst the celebrated champagne houses thought to have been hit by the fall.

Sales in the UK are also down, although only by 4 per cent after what the French describe as an astronomic rise in recent years.

The French market, which accounts for 55 per cent of global champagne consumption, fell by 4.2 per cent.

The figures put an end to an annual worldwide rise in sales since 2000.

But if dealers in New York, London and Paris are depressed at the outlook, champagne vineyard owners are not.

After selling 338.7 million bottles last year, they were having trouble keeping pace with demand and say the slow-down may enable them to relax a little over a glass of their bubbly.

Nor are they worried about long-term prospects, with sales almost certain to continue rising in China, Russia and other emerging economies.

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