(Finance) – A complicated first quarter ends for companies sales of Italian wine abroad, with flat volumes (+0.1%) and a trend performance in value of +3.8% (1.8 billion euro). it detects theUiv-Ismea-Vinitaly Observatory, which elaborated the latest Istat data on foreign trade. THE volumes marketedhighlights the Observatory, are kept afloat by the sales exploits of wine bulk (+13.4%) – which, however, recorded a sharp contraction in price lists (-9.2%) – and municipalities, at +12.8%.
In suffering, always in volumes, the flagship products of the made in Italystarting from bottled DOP still wineswhich decreased by -5.3% (+2.5% the value) with i reds to -6.6%. Down too Igp (-2.5%), where the growth of whites (+8.3%) it was not enough to limit the loss of reds (-7.5%) and where the red sign is also evident in the values. Among the typologies, the difficult start is confirmed for the sparkling wines (-3.2% volume and +7.3% value), thanks to the contraction of exported volumes of Prosecco (-5.5%), while the good season of theAsti Spumante (+9.1%) and of sparkling common (+4.4%).
“In this first quarter – said the general secretary of Italian Union of Wines (UIV), Paul Castelletti – the too short blanket is increasingly evident: the growth in value is in fact insufficient to deal with the surplus of costs dictated by raw materials and energy, which affects by about 12% on an average price increased by just 3.7% . The considerable difficulties of the reds remain, in particular the PDO and PGI ones, to which must be added the setback of the sparkling wine. More generally, the current economic situation requires low-cost choices on demand, and for this reason in volume terms, basic products that have barely changed their price lists do better. But at what price?”.
“The world wine market is sending signs of change that seem to favor lower-end wines at the moment – he commented Fabio Del Bravohead of the Rural Development Services Department of Ismea –. Looking at the export dynamics of our main competitors, France appears to be particularly penalized by the current market orientation, and records a 7.5% reduction in quantity flows (+3.4% receipts). Spanish wines, on the other hand, are favored by a more competitive price and are making progress both in volume (+3.8%) and in value (+11.4%). As far as our exports are concerned, we are far from the growth rates to which the sector has accustomed us in recent years. The picture is also complicated by the evident slowdown in sales to distribution on the domestic market and the almost 53 million hectoliters of wine stored in the establishments which, although down on the record values of recent months, register a growth of over 4% on last year”.
On the front of marketsthe square grows in volume EU (+7.3%) and the extra-EU contracted (-7.7%); among the top buyers USA remain in positive territory (+0.4% volume, +10.8% value) the Germany (+6.2% in volume and +5.6 in value) while the Kingdom United it dropped 13.5% (-7% the value). In contraction, in terms of volumes, outlet and emerging markets such as Canada (-24%), Swiss (-8.4%), Japan (-22.9%) and is confirmed in free fall market Chinese (-43.7%). Orders fly from Russia: +33.0%.
Among the regions, export values slow down for the top 3, with Veneto at +3%, the Piedmont at +0.2% and the Tuscany to +0.6%. Above average the increases of important producing regions, such as the Trentino Alto AdigeL’Emilia Romagnathe Lombardy.
(Photo: Hermes Rivera on Unsplash)