- Italian wine exports closes 2023 with a trend decline of 1% in volumes (21.4 million hectoliters) and 0.8% in values, to just under 7.8 billion euros.
This is, as highlighted by the Uiv-Ismea Observatory based on Istat, the third negative annual balance sheet recorded in the new millennium, after the economic-financial crisis of 2009 and the Covid effect of 2020.
But unlike the previous two, notes the Observatory, this year's data highlights difficulties determined not only by economic variables but also by structural factors, which also seem to unite all the main producing countries.
However, Italy confirms its leadership in exported volumes with Spain falling to just over 20 million hectoliters (-4.1%).
Compared to the slight overall contraction, the difficulties of those typologies and production areas that are the flag of Made in Italy winemaking intensify.
This is the case of bottled denomination still wines, with volumes at -6.2% for PDOs and -4.3% for PGIs;
contractions that are more marked than the overall Italian performance, but less evident when compared to those of France, which closes at -11% and -8% respectively.
In particular, in line with global trends, the reds of the Belpaese are especially suffering, falling by 8% for PDOs and 6% in the case of PGIs, an impasse also highlighted by the decline in exports of ordinary bottled wines ( -9%).
Evidence that is also reflected at a regional level: -12.5% (volume) for Venetian PDO reds, -10.5% for Tuscans, -5.5% for Piedmontese.
On the white side - which sees PDOs at -4.7% and PGIs at -1.3% - the United States closes at -5%, counterbalanced by +3% in the United Kingdom (where, however, Venetian PDOs do badly, to -10%) and +2% in the Netherlands.
Germany is stationary.
On the other hand, 2023 stood out for a strong increase in bulk wines (+12%), mainly destined for Germany, whose impact on the type accounts for almost 2/3 of exports.
The geography of exports sees a clear gap between the results obtained in the EU (+5.6% volume and +4.1% value) and outside the EU (-7.5% volume and -4% value).
The top 5 buyers are in difficulty except for Germany which, thanks to the bulk boom, closed at +8.4% (volume).
The export balance in the USA is negative, with a trend of -9.1%, as well as in the UK (-1.8%), Switzerland (-3.6%) and Canada (-11.3%).
Exports to France performed well (+6.7%), compared to a strong contraction in the Japanese (-13.4%) and Chinese markets (-22.3%).
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