Cantina Italia: sales in mid-April down 50%, stocks at the same level as 2019

The effect of Covid-19 on Italian wine cellars is evident as wine barrels are still quite full, while sales are down. In the first 2 weeks of April, the Cantina Italia bulletin from the quality control and fraud inspectorate, ICQRF, published by the Ministry of Agriculture, revealed that wine stocks were not noticeably decreasing and sales had fallen 50% compared to the same period last year – 950.000 hectoliters of wine against almost 1.95 hectoliters as the journal, Agrarian Informer reported.
At the end of April 2020, stocks in cellars were at the same levels as 2019 (-2% less on the total, + 1.5% for PDO wines), even though the last harvest yielded 19% less than 2018.
But there is more. It is a complex situation because sales of wine stocks will continue to be very slow, and the current situation is not yet taking into account the various effects of the emergency that instead will be felt more in the coming months. Some of these effects include stocks held by distributors and importers, pending agreements and outstanding payments, but also the repercussions due to postponing and cancelling events such as ProWein and Vinitaly that generate the possibility to increase business. There are 52 million hectoliters in stock, and the volumes sold as of today reward table wines (-12% stocks compared to last year), while stocks of PDO (+1.5%) and TGI wines are already higher than those in 2019 (+ 0.5%), which together make up over 3/4 of the Made in Italy product. These data tell all about the on-trade market lockdown, which exposes the value of quality wine to speculation risk on the eve of the next harvest.