Covid cancels holiday toasts: wine consumption in the out of home -74%

In one year, Covid, along with many other things and, above all, people, also took away one of the symbolic rituals of socializing, the toast. It is as if in bars and restaurants, temples not only of good food and drink, but also of being together, in good company, have disappeared suddenly 3 glasses out of 4, only at the end of the year. To say this Federvini on TradeLab data, according to which, if in 2019 the total value in the consumption outside the home for the wine sector was more than 2.3 billion euros, this year the contraction will not allow to reach 1.4 billion euros, or almost -40%. Even worse for spirits: the value of 960 million euros in 2019 will be almost halved in 2020, reducing to 570 million euros (-41%). The year-end estimate is worse than the November 2020 figure because it stands at -74% for the wine category and almost -80% for the spirits category: the closures of premises enacted by the “Christmas Decree” have given the coup de grace, given the greater concentration of out-of-home consumption right in this period.
Significant differences exist from region to region: for wines, it ranges from -40% per year in Lombardy to -31% in Molise, while for spirits, Lombardy is still the most penalized region with -45%, and Puglia with -35%. But it is the whole world of hospitality - starting from the horeca (hotels, bars, restaurants) - that is in a deep crisis and from which it is difficult to be optimistic for a prompt recovery. Also on this front, Trade Lab’s numbers are illustrative: compared to 2019, the so-called “Away From Home” has literally collapsed by 40%, going from 85 to 53 billion in 2020.
“These are data that make us worry and that undoubtedly affect the turnover of companies, also considering the international scenario - said Sandro Boscaini, president of Federvini - but we want to look to the future with optimism and turn the page. Our entrepreneurial fabric has undergone an unprecedented shake-up, but it has been able to react and demonstrate that it is equally capable of facing such a negative economic situation both on the domestic market and abroad. So we are ready to start again: we ask the institutions to accompany our recovery and support it so that our sectors can return to express the immense economic, social and cultural value that distinguishes them”, concluded Boscaini.