In 2020, only one in 10 wine companies will close in the black. HORECA channel and exports down

In the Italian wine world, only one out of 10 companies will increase their turnover in 2020, while over 7 out of 10 companies will register total sales in the red, revealed the Vinitaly-Nomisma Wine Monitor Observatory survey presented Saturday, during the International Summit, “The future of wine: different visions, one perspective”, which will open the event, Wine2Wine Digital, starting tomorrow (November 24th), in a virtual format. According to the study carried out on a selection of 165 companies (cumulative turnover equal to € 4 billion euros, of which 2.5 billion euros related to exports, 40% of the Italian total), the greatest challenge wine companies are facing is the combined decline in the on trade market, HORECA channel (91% in the red) in specialized retail (3 producers out of 4), export (63% of companies) and direct sales at the winery. The enormous gap is produced also by the collapse of foreign wine tourism, down for 87% of those interviewed. Acting as a partial counterbalance, sales in the Italian large-scale retail trade (51% of respondents say it is growing) and the boom in online sales, for 8 out of 10 respondents. The export picture, instead, even though Italy has suffered a lesser blow than its competitors, is still foreboding: 63% are in the red, while only 18% of companies are growing. The top 10 of the most distressed markets put the United Kingdom and the United States in the first positions, for 60% of the sample. Then follow Japan, Australia, China, Germany, Canada, Russia and Switzerland, in a global scenario that sees 9 out of 10 negative, and only Sweden is in positive territory. Denis Pantini, at the helm of the Vinitaly-Nomisma Wine Monitor, said, “the pandemic has highlighted even more the structural and dimensional problems that our production system suffers from. Closing the HORECA channel and reducing diversification of markets and sales channels, has meant that mostly the smaller wineries are paying the highest price in this crisis scenario dominated by uncertainty. The price to pay is certainly not any lighter even for larger companies; however, since they are able to count on more substantial commercial, financial and capital structures, they undoubtedly demonstrate a higher resilience”. According to the analysis of the sample, representative for turnover and exports, small businesses (under 1 million euros), instead, are dealing with the worst indicators, sales in the red in 81% of cases and exports (74% of participants), HORECA (95%) and specialized retail (86%) collapsing. Giovanni Mantovani, CEO of Veronafiere, said, “it is difficult to comment on data when the causes do not reflect the actual state of health of Italian wine, but a global epidemic in which, among other things, Italian wine is paying half the losses compared to its competitors. Our sector will have all the fundamentals to restart, as long as - for once - the choices are unanimous and a national promotion is implemented in line with the global reputation of the Italian brand. In other words, an institutional communication to combine Italian events linked to the wine trade in the world”.