Export, Italian wine regains a slight smile: signs of growth from the USA to the East

Small but significant signs of recovery for the world of Italian wine which, despite alarms and pessimistic visions, needs an injection of confidence to regain enthusiasm and look towards 2024 which many have already marked as a decisive year for the sector. In fact, some good news comes from the market with the month of January started off on the right foot, as WineNews has already written recently, analyzing Istat data on exports which speak of 539 million euros worldwide, with an encouraging +13.5% on the same month 2023 (then closed at -0.8% in value, at 7.8 billion euros) supported by a good +11.2% in volume, at 150.5 million litres. Data to be taken with caution, and relating to only one month of the year, but to be read in any case in light of a 2023 that started along the same lines as 2022 with the all-time record in value. And also the fact that January 2024 is significantly higher than the same month in 2019 (+23.3%), last pre-pandemic year, and also January 2020 (+8.8%), when Covid wasn’t there.
Looking at individual countries, whose performance was analyzed by WineNews, we note how the United States remains firmly established as Italy’s main partner, approaching +14% compared to a year ago with a value of 136.2 million euros, and above all marking a trend reversal in 2023. Germany confirms itself in second place and, although less than the USA, maintains the positive sign (+2.7%), with an export value rising to 84.6 million euros. The United Kingdom closes the podium, thanks to a brilliant +19.5% and exports in January at the threshold of 50 million euros. And then there is Switzerland which consolidates itself as an important market (29 million euros, +9.2%) ahead of Canada which places a more than encouraging +21.5% equal to 27.69 million euros. Good news also comes from France (+6.1%) with trade that generated an extra million euros, going from 17.2 in January 2023 to 18.2 in January 2024; while Sweden goes down (-9.5%) to 14.4 million euros, unlike the Netherlands which takes a step forward reaching 18.4 million euros in exports (+23.8%). The biggest exploit is from Russia which reaches +87% approaching 20 million euros, but Austria’s growth is also important (+19.5%) which rises to 11.68 million euros. Denmark is more or less stable (+3.5%) at 10 million euros in value, as well as Norway at 6.75 million euros (-3.1%).
And the eastern market? There is a positive movement that gives us hope even if we are far from the potential and expectations of the recent past. Compared to a year ago, China is at +59.8% for a value of just over 6 million euros; Japan makes a positive progression of 34.5% which is equivalent to 10.58 million euros in exports. South Korea is also recovering (+6.3%) with exports generating a value of 3.39 million euros in January 2024.
Ultimately, with the exception of a few countries, Sweden and Norway, both in Northern Europe, the main markets show a positive start with Italian wine which accelerated sales on the figures from a year ago. The hope is that this is a good omen and that this trend can continue to maintain itself in the coming months even if it would be wrong to get caught up in the enthusiasm now: meanwhile, however, it is right to hope for a recovery of the growth of Italian exports in the world, and these numbers suggest that the warehouse stocks that slowed down orders especially in the first part of last year are finally being disposed of. An aspect certainly not to be underestimated for an even more effective recovery in exports.