ITALIAN WINE EXPORTS BOOM: TOTAL VALUE OF 1.6 BILLION EUROS (+12%). THE PRESIDENT OF THE ITALIAN WINE UNION (UIV), ANDREA SARTORI: “ANOTHER GREAT SIGNAL OF STRENGTH, WHICH, HOWEVER, MUST NOT MAKE US FORGET THE PROBLEMS AT HOME”

The rate of Italian wine exports is growing at top speed: according to ISTAT data, in the first semester of 2007, Italy earned a total value in wine exports around the world of 1.6 billion euros (+12%) and with enthusiastic prospects of beating the 2006 record (when exports reached 3.1 billion euros). And growth is good for quantity as well, +15% at 925,000 tons. European sales are positive, growing by
14% in value (852 million euros) and by 16% in volume (683,000 tons), just as those to third party countries (with a 9.8% increase in value, at 759 million euros, and an 11% increase in volume, at 241,000 tons).

“This is one of many signals of the strength of an extraordinary sector that is leading the entire agri-food market” – noted Andrea Sartori, president of the Italian Wine Union (UIV) – “but this success abroad, which is by now the norm, must not make us forget that, in Italy, the scene is very different with consumption at a standstill, if not even falling, for years now, and the prospect of possible normative changes that could further penalize the image of a product that is a patrimony for all because it provides work to hundreds of thousands of people, has earnings, with important and secure fiscal worth, and contributes to the safeguarding of territories. We must find, all together, – entrepreneurs, politicians, social groups – the way to unite the right to be healthy with the right to know what one is drinking”.

More specifically, the main destination countries for Italian wine showed great performances during the beginning of 2007: +13% in France (43.2 million euros), +11% in Germany (344 million), +21% in Great Britain (205 million), +8% in Denmark (42 million), +17% in Sweden (34 million), +16% in Finland (7.5 million), +7% in Austria (31 million).

Outside of the European Union, there were great results in the U.S. (with a growth of 6%, worth 411 million euros). There was an extraordinary jump on the Russian market, which went from 9 to 20 million euros in earnings within one year for a growth rate of 122%. China is also showing good growth, reaching 5.6 million euros for an increase of 56%. And there is also very encouraging growth in Norway (+19%) and Canada (+2% at 86 million euros).