Wine accounts for 46.7% of Italian agri-food trade surplus (at 15.4 billion euros)

The Italian agri-food sector, a true asset of made in Italy brand, generated 80.1 billion euros in production value in 2025, at +3.9% from 77.1 billion euros in 2024 (as already reported by WineNews). At the same time, however, the trade balance for agriculture and food products, namely, the difference between the economic value of exports and imports, although significantly lower than in 2024, remains positive, exceeding 2 billion euros in 2025 (it was 5.4 billion euros in 2024), as reported by Istat in its report “I cambiamenti dell’agricoltura” - “Changes in Agriculture”. And while the trade balance for agro-livestock products remains historically negative (-13.3 billion euros in 2025), the entire national agri-food balance is supported by the food processing industry, i.e. the “food and beverages” category, whose trade surplus amounts to 15.4 billion euros, only slightly lower than in 2024 (15.8 billion euros). This shows that the further annual decline in agro-livestock products (almost 3 billion euros between 2024 and 2025) is what has concretely affected the final figure of the trade balance for agriculture and food products.
In this context, Italian wine plays a fundamental role, being a product entirely oriented toward exports and obviously enjoying strong international appeal. According to Istat data elaborated by WineNews, the trade balance for Italian wine in 2025 stands at 7.2 billion euros, the result of 7.7 billion euros in exports and 565.6 million euros in imports. Therefore, based on these figures, wine accounts for 46.7%, nearly half, of the “food and beverages” category, which generates the positive trade balance of the Italian agri-food sector.
As Istat points out, in Italy “overall, since unification, the trade balance for agro-livestock products has almost always been negative. However, Italy is also a country of processing, and over the past fifteen years the industrial component has recorded increasing surpluses, bringing the entire agri-food sector into positive territory from 2018 onwards”. A result to which wine has made a decisive contribution. Yet, another demonstration of a product, wine, which is fundamental for the Italian agri-food sector, a key resource for exports and the national economy.