THE MARKET ACCORDING TO PIERO VALDISERRA, MARKETING MANAGER FOR FRATELLI RINALDI, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT IMPORTERS. “IMPOSSIBLE TO GENERALIZE, BUT STILL WINES ARE SUFFERING, SPARKLING WINES ARE WITHSTANDING, COGNAC, CALVADOS, WHISKEY ARE STABLE”

There is no better expert on the market situation than one who works in it every day. And Piero Valdiserra, marketing director of Fratelli Rinaldi of Bologna, works with one of the most important Italian importers. Here, below, are Valdiserra’s comments:

“Making a mid-year economic outlook for the Italian alcohol market means measuring oneself with pure numbers, and thus banishing simple discussions about products and/or image in order to concentrate on the crude data that is arriving from sales.

“It must be said, above all, that though the negativity of the economic situation is undeniable, it is absolutely not possible to generalize. There are, in fact, categories that are suffering (and some are suffering particularly heavily), others that are more or less stable, and yet others that are, paradoxically, doing well. But maybe this is a characteristic of any crisis, even a serious crisis like this one, and it is not worth it to emphasize it more than necessary.

“Still wine sales are definitely suffering in almost all of Italy’s regions: here the decrease is often in double digits, and is penance not just for the problems of the past 12 months, but ones that are certainly much older and – one almost wants to say – by now structural. We are referring to the existence of consistent amounts of stock of unsold finished products, which lag through some grape harvests and condition the lowering of prices on the market and, in general, relations between supply and demand. This is a situation that increases confusion on the market, and puts good long-term relations with clients at risk.

“The sparkling wine sector has improved in both Italy and for exports: the growing de-seasoning of consumption, together with existing trend factors, allows these products to better withstand a moment of strong crisis like that of the first half of 2009. In this case, in fact, sales for the year have remained more or less at the same level as those in the same period of 2008.

“For liquors and distilled alcohol, the large mainstream products (like whisky, grappa, limoncello, etc.) have decreased notably, while niche markets like luxury cognac, armagnac, calvados, and Irish whiskies, have remained stable or even increased”.