EXPORTS: WINE SALES DOWN IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2013 3.7% (OVER SAME PERIOD IN 2012), VALUE STABLE AT 2.35 BILLION (+8.6%). TRADITIONAL MARKETS FROM USA TO GERMANY OK. CHINA FALLS: 41.9% LESS IN PURCHASES

The fate of the Italian wine sector, as we have been writing for months, is increasingly linked to performances abroad, and analyzing the Italian Statistics Institute Istat data for the first half of 2013, as Emanuele Scarci, journalist for "Il Sole 24 Ore" did, the signals are to say the least mixed: good growth in export values, up by 8.6% to 2.35 billion euros over the same period in 2012, counterbalanced by the decrease in amount, down 3.7%. There’s really nothing to worry about, after all. On the contrary, the average price must continue to grow if we want to compete with the French, but the aspect that is most concerning is the steep fall in the Chinese market, which had become for many the great hope for the Western economies, especially in the luxury sector: the balance of sales in Beijing is at an alarming minus 41%, even if the value is practically the same as 12 months ago (-0.7%).

Scrolling through the Istat data for the first half of 2013, writes Scarci, good performance is recorded in the U.S. (which remains firmly the top turnover outlet for Italian wine), where sales increased by 3.7% in quantity and as much as 9.6% in value. Positive results were also found in Germany (+1% in quantity and +9.5% in value). Progress is instead double figures in France (+16.1%), Sweden (+15%), the UK (+11.7%) and Austria (10.3%). Signals are reassuring on traditional markets, but the same cannot be said for the new markets.
Russia is a special case: it is a market where the fall in quantity (-26.1%) is matched by a sustained progress in value (+15.9). These data show that on this market there is a significant repositioning of consumption towards medium-high priced and quality wines. The most worrisome signals, as already mentioned, are from what is widely regarded as the market of the future: China. Beijing, in the first half of 2013, despite an unchanged turnover
(-0.7%), has effectively cut quantities purchased, which were reduced by 41.9%.