FOCUS VINITALY - THE BRAZILIAN SURPRISE: BRAZIL REGISTERS A 30% INCREASE IN VALUE FOR ITALIAN WINE IN 2007. VINITALY SAN PAOLO 2009 IS ALREADY IN THE WORKS

One of the more interesting news items to come out of the 2008 edition of the Vinitaly expo (held in Verona from April 4 to 7) is the double digit increase in the amount of Italian wine consumed in the world’s capital of beer and Capirihna drinking, Brazil. Over the past three years, this market registered a 55% increase in importation of Italian wines (with a 29.4% increase in 2007 alone), making Italy the third largest exporter to Brazil after Chile and Argentina.

Italian wine exports in 2007 totaled 886,500 cases of wine out of a total 6.06 million that were imported to Brazil, the equivalent of almost 15% of the total market quota.

This “wine boom” on the third largest market in the world could be caused by a sort of “saudade” for Italy in a country that counts 25 million immigrants of Italian origin. And with a population of 190 million inhabitants and where ‘Made in Italy’ goods are continuing to grow in popularity among the younger and more wealthy groups, Italy’s immigrant heritage is an important towline to grab onto.
General Director of Veronafiere, Giovanni Mantovani has no doubts about this: “Brazil’s lifestyle and cultural traditions are very close to that of ours in respect to other countries. And now that there are the economic conditions to create a serious demand, we have thought of organizing the first Vinitaly in San Paolo, Brazil in 2009”.

In closer detail, wine in Brazil is mostly sold through large-scale distribution centers (70%), followed by restaurants and hotels (20%) and by shops (10%).
More reds are bought than whites, drunk mostly in the south during the winter and holidays. For types of wine, the lion’s share that is acquired is actually Lambrusco, which makes up 73% of all imports, followed by Valpolicella, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Frascati, Corvo and Bardolino. And though there are many challenges on this market, Market Analysis Institute is still convinced that per capital consumption of wine in Brazil will have doubled by 2020-2030.