The restart of the U.S., in the numbers of wine imports and openings of bars and restaurants

If it weren’t for the USA, Italian wine would be a much poorer sector, given that the USA alone accounts for a quarter of the exports of Italian wineries (which are worth half of the total turnover). In other words, Americans alone spend one dollar out of every eight spent in the world (including Italy) on Italian wines. And if all in all it wasn’t too bad, given the context of the pandemic, 2020, with Italian wine exports down by -5.6% to 1.4 billion euros (Istat data), gives hope for a positive reduction in losses in 2021, which began with -22% in value in January, and reached -9.7% in March, according to Customs data, reported by Unione Italiana Vini (UIV), which also underlines how sparkling wines started to run again in the first quarter of the year, with a decidedly important +11% in the first importing country.
Numbers that give hope, along with those of an out of home that, in the States, is returning to march, it seems, at full speed, as told by the survey signed by the British agency Cga Strategy. According to which, in all states of the country, there are now reopened restaurants, even with indoor service, and not only outdoors. This is also true for bars. In detail, in 32% of American states bars are completely reopened and operational, 66% are reopened but with limitations, and 2% are open but only with outdoor service. An even better situation for restaurants: in 36% of states they are operating at full capacity, while in 64% of the rest they are operating with some limitation in numbers, but both indoors and out. And that, in the first week of May, translates into a spending rate that, while obviously a huge increase over the same period in 2020 (+225%), is up slightly (+4%) over the same period in 2019, the last “normal” year before the pandemic broke out.
Comforting signs that come from the most important foreign market for Italian wine. Those U.S. in which the vaccination campaign is well advanced, so much so that a few days ago fell the ban on wearing a mask outdoors for those who are fully vaccinated and, as reported by Agi, according to the famous immunologist Antony Fauci, may soon fall even the obligation to wear a mask, both outdoors and indoors in the premises. For a return to normality closer, which will be strategic for the wine and the made in Italy all.