Wine news
Export of Italian wines booms
Compared to the first half of 2006, sales of Italian wines increased by more than 12 per cent in the first half of 2007. That is the trend shown by the data published by the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (Istat). In total, wines to the value of 1.6 billion Euros were exported.
The greatest increase was recorded by Russia: sales of Italian wines were up 122 per cent on the previous year (up from 9 to 20 million Euros). In second place is China, with a growth rate of 56 per cent. Other significant growth rates: + 21 per cent to Great Britain, + 19 per cent to Norway, + 17 per cent to Sweden, + 16 per cent to Finland, + 13 per cent to France, + 11 per cent to Germany (344 million Euros), + 8 per cent to Denmark, + 7 per cent to Austria, +6 per cent to the USA, with only a small plus of 2 per cent to Canada.
However domestic sales in Italy declined slightly during the same period. The chairman of the Unione Italiana Vini: “This success in foreign markets, which we by now consider to be normal, should not let us forget that the situation in Italy is quite different, with stagnating or even decreasing consumption, plus the threat of possible changes to the law which could further dampen the outlook for a product that is part of our general cultural heritage.“