“ 5.1 BILLION EUROS IN EXPORTS IN 2014 IS A GREAT RESULT FOR A VERY PARTICULAR YEAR, AND THE GOAL TO DOUBLE EXPORTS FOR 2020 IS STILL WITHIN REACH”, THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, MAURIZIO MARTINA TOLD WINENEWS

At Vinitaly 2014, an ambitious goal was set to double the value of wine exports, from five billion to 10 billion euros by 2020. The figures for 2014, however, are still in line with 2013, despite the much more sustained growth in other sectors of Italian agri business.
How does the Minister of Agriculture, Maurizio Martina judge the performance of Italian wine on foreign markets? “I think the 5.1 billion euros in exports in 2014 cannot be minimized”, the Minister explained to WineNews, “because in a very particular year I did not imagine we would have reached and exceeded the 5 billion euros mark. I think the goal that we set for 2020 is within reach, but of course we will have to work hard to achieve it. We cannot stop and need to consider 2015 as the year for significant acceleration. Expo will help a lot; so, from a strategic point of view, the objectives are clear, while I think we did a good job with the tools used in these 10 months, but I am the first not to be satisfied, I know that there is still a lot to do”.

As mentioned, however, the basic stability of the sector is uncertain when compared to the growth of other sectors. According to Martina, "this can be explained primarily through the performance of other sectors, which in some markets found better conditions. Then”, continued the Minister, “2015 will be a crucial year, because the plan for internationalization will be begin, and its focus are two potentially key countries, such as Canada and the US. In particular the USA, for wine, is an extraordinary land of growth, and I would like to emphasize the effort we made to localize, even in the United States, wine territories that were not the usual regions on the two coasts. Just the fact of being able to organize such an extraordinary and never before done task, especially in Central America and in large states such as Texas, gives us the sign of the potential ahead of us: not only New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, but above all”, concluded Martina, “those domestic markets that are potentially interesting for wine”.