Wine exports: difficult start in North America and Asia

Slowdown in the race of Italian wine in the main countries of North America (USA, good in Canada) and Asia (China and Japan). National OCM promotion funds cut by 2/3.

According to the UIV-Vinitaly Observatory (www.osservatoriodelvino.it), which processed customs data on wine imports in the first three months of 2022, Italy is lagging behind both the global import average and its main competitors: in fact, in the four countries, the trend growth in value of Italian wine stops at 3.7%, with France registering an almost double increase and a world average of +5.3%.

This result was affected by a heavy downturn in Asia (down 15.9%, compared with a general average of 5.6% and France's 0.6%) and underwhelming performance in North America (up 6.9%), in view of the results achieved by competitors (up 11.9% in France and 10% in the rest of the world) and the lockdown in the same period of 2021. Difficult start in the US market, which registered an increase in imports of 11% in the first quarter. Italy, with an increase in value of 3.5%, travels at a low rate compared to France at +16.3%. In the world's leading market, Italy is kept afloat by sparkling wines (+16.3% in value), while the growth of bottled still wines is halted (-0.1%), compared to +16.5% in New Zealand, driven by Sauvignon blanc.

The UIV-Vinitaly Observatory points out that the data is sweetened by the excellent performance in Canada (+23%), where Made in Italy is three times better than the general demand for foreign wines and becomes market leader, surpassing the United States and France in one fell swoop. Lastly, Asia was bad, with China in full Covid emergency (-15.6% for Italy, -20% for general imports), but also with Japan that reduced purchases from Italy by 8.1%, against a general growth in demand from the Rising Sun of over 22% (with France at +23.6%).

According to the Italian Wine Union, never as in this difficult period - marked by important geopolitical tensions and strong increases in the costs of raw materials and transport - it would be important to increase the presence of companies abroad. Unfortunately, this will probably not be the case, as the sector is forced to give up most of the national funds (from 27 million euros to 9.2 million) destined for promotion in non-EU countries (Ocm Promozione). An abrupt cut, which will produce even more serious effects in terms of competitiveness abroad of a sector of Made in Italy that in 2021 closed its trade balance in the black for about 6.7 billion euros. UIV asks for specific attention of the Government on this issue, sharing the possibility of identifying additional resources to be allocated to the promotion of wine companies, including the internationalization tools of Ice.

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