Brazil, the pandemic hinders the growth of wine consumption: post-crisis, savings are the priority

Far away, perhaps, even more, today, Brazil experiences the Covid-19 pandemic in a completely peculiar way: no total lockdown, rather chaotic political and health management, but a social and productive fabric that, all things considered, resists. Carrying the aftermath of a crisis that, especially on the economic front (already decidedly stagnant, ed), is destined to get worse, hand in hand with the economies of the rest of the world. In all this, even the consumption of wine, especially imported, will suffer the consequences. As Wine Intelligence told in “Brazil Wine Landscapes 2020”Brazil was experiencing a very positive moment in terms of wine, with an audience of 38 million regular consumers and $ 350 million of bottled imported in 2019, of which 36.4 from Italy, divided between 33.2 million euros of still wine and 3.2 million euros of bubbles. And this despite the devaluation of the Brazilian Real, which lost 30% on the dollar last year, a factor that has an important impact on imports, including wine. Now, we will have to deal with the tourism crisis and unemployment, which are bringing fear and mistrust: 6 drinkers of imported wine out of 10, so after the end of the lockdown they will think more about rebuilding their finances, 71% of them will hardly take a vacation abroad, and 67% of people are not inclined to participate in social events once the pandemic emergency has passed. The sentiment that, however, is more encouraging for the food & beverage sector, as 28% of regular wine consumers say that, with the return to normality, they would like to enjoy quality wine, while 30% say they are inclined to taste drinks and food never tasted before, as opposed to another 40%.