CONFAGRICOLTURA REPORT: ITALIAN WINE EXPORTS TO EUROPE AND ABROAD INCREASE BY 9%. AND CONSUMER CURIOSITY FOR NEW WORLD WINES IS GROWING

“Appreciation for Italian wine continues to grow abroad, with positive market results, above all, compared to the other main European competitors”. This was the conclusion made by the national agricultural organization Confagricoltura after presenting its data to the European Commission. “During the first 10 months of 2005, Italian wine exports increased by 9%, both towards European countries as well as abroad, when compared to the same period in 2004, equaling an increase of over one million hectoliters with a value of 46 million euros”.

”It is important to point out”, commented Confagricoltura, “that Italy’s good performance also had a positive effect on the total volume of European wine exports, of which Italian wine makes up almost one third. These numbers are a counter trend compared to France, which has not grown in regards to exports abroad, and whose exports within the euro zone have even decreased by 5%”.
The tastes of Italian consumers, meanwhile, are changing as well, moving away from other European wines (whose imports were down by 25%), and demonstrating new interest in wines from outside the EU, in particular from the United States, Chile, Australia, and Argentina.

Imports from countries outside of the EU have, in fact, increased by 269%, jumping from 134,000 hectoliters in 2004 to 493,000 in 2005.