In 2023, the import of Italian wine in the 5 main world markets is slowing down: the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan close with a trend decline of 4.4% in volumes and 7.3% in values, a 4.45 billion euros.
This was announced by the Observatory of the Italian Wine Union (UIV), specifying that the 5 main global markets together are worth 56% of the Bel Paese's overall exports.
The analysis, carried out on a customs basis, sees drops in volumes in all countries with the exception of Germany, which closed the year at +7% due to the boom in bulk wine orders (+16%).
The market in the United States was particularly negative, also due to excess inventories, with -13% in volume, but also in Canada and Japan, both at -11% and in the UK (-9%).
In decline, despite the surplus of production costs, the average price (-3%), due to the growth of loose (+9%, where however the price lists collapse to -11%) and large formats (+6%) and the contextual lower impact of bottled products (-7%) and sparkling wines, down 11% in volumes but the only type to increase in average price (+5%).
"Italy has the primary need that can no longer be postponed to expand its customer base", comments UIV president Lamberto Frescobaldi, highlighting the high value of Italian exports in the 5 countries, compared to 50% in France and 40% in Spain". 2024 promises to be very complex, he adds, "with Italian production at historic lows, companies will have the vital need to raise the unit value of their products, in a macroeconomic context that is not the most favourable". According the Observatory, 2023 was still negative for all producing countries: global wine imports from the 5 top buyers closed at 16.9 billion, 7.5% less than the previous year, with volumes at - 6.7%. France, the main exporting country, did worse with volumes down by 10%), but had a smaller deficit in terms of values with -5%.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA