ITALIAN WINE IN THE USA STARTED OUT WITH A BANG IN 2013: +10.7% QUANTITY AND +14.2% VALUE, REVEALED THE ITALIAN WINE & FOOD INSTITUTE HEADED BY LUCIO CAPUTO.

2013 started out with a bang for Italian wine in the USA: Italian wine imports to the number one wine market in the world in the first two months of the year, recorded a significant increase over the beginning of 2012, with 37.000 hectoliters of wine sent to the States, and 23 million dollars more.
This data comes from the
The Italian Wine & Food Institute, as the president Lucio Caputo told Wine News at Vinitaly. They are talking about +10.7% in quantity (378.090 hectoliters), and +14.2% in value reaching 186 million US dollars.

This is an important finding, because it shows not only the reversal of the down trend of Italian wine of Italy on the U.S. market recorded in 2012, but (or, especially) a recovery on prices, which allows Italy to maintain leadership in value among importing countries with a 31.7% market share. However, Italy loses its leadership, albeit by a hair, in volume at 24.2% market share, just behind Australia, 24.9% (but it took 3.1% in quantity and 0.8% in value). And, Italian bubbles as it has been for years, continue to ride at full speed: they scored 46.8% in quantity (47.620 hectoliters) and +46.6% in value (26.8 million dollars) at the beginning of 2013.

The Italian Wine & Food Institute points out that among the top five exporting countries to the U.S. (Italy, Australia, Argentina, Chile and France, representing 87% in quantity and 80.7% in value), Italy and France are the only two growing, both in quantity and value, which indicates a trend toward the purchase of quality wine. One comforting fact for Italian wineries when compared with the total in the U.S. is a plus 6.4% in volume (1.5 million hectoliters) and +6.3% in value (586 million dollars) compared to 2012. These numbers give a bit of optimism, especially from a market that, in 2012, according to "The Wine Institute" in California, consumed more wine than ever before: 360.1 million boxes (+2% on 2011), for a value of US dollars 34.6 billion (+5%). Thanks, especially to the boom of "Moscato" type wines.