Beverage, wine and bottling machinery exports soar: 2.5 billion euros (+18.5%)

With 2.5 billion euros of exports and a trade balance surplus of over 2.1 billion euros, 2023 seals the recovery and the return to pre-pandemic levels for the Made in Italy beverage, wine and bottling machinery sector. The last balance sheet marks a +18.5% on 2022 (a year that was very nearly to the tie with 2019), and a +13.2% compared to the performance before the pandemic. This data is revealed by Osservatorio Unione Italiana Vini – Uiv which has elaborated it together with Istat. According to the analysis, this positive trend, which is confirmed also by an additional trend growth of 12.7% of sales outside the boundaries in the first 7 months of this year (for an exchange value of 1.6 billion euros), should bring the net export balance of the end of 2024 to at least 2.2 billion euros.
“This is one of the sectors with the highest propensity to export – explains the secretary general of Unione Italiana Vini, Paolo Castelletti - another record of Made in Italy and an asset for the entire wine and beverage industry, whose strength point is technology and innovation”. Considering the figures of Osservatorio Unione Italiana Vini, the recovery of the industry in the last 5 years (2019-2023) is due to sales in markets outside the European Union, particularly. Already last year, they represented almost two-thirds of international sales of machines, and that now, are increasing by15% on 2019 values, the year immediately preceding the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.The USA is leading this recovery, the first non-European market for Italian wine, and, which, in these last five years, has expanded its market share by 10.5% to 15.5%, thanks to a sales rebound of 67.5%.
Also the value of sales in EU markets increases at double-digits (+9.9% on 2019) but below the average, where Germany and France did particularly well in the last 5 years (+16.8% and +14.7%, respectively), and then they slowed the race between January and July this year.As a result of a light growth in EU countries (+2.4% is the overall result in the area in 7 months), the exports to France are decreasing by 16.2% in 2023, but the exports to Germany are stable, which is overcome by Spain (+11.5%) taking into consideration the value of sales.
On the contrary, the race of non-European markets proceeds fast, marking a +18.4%, with Asia at +31.6%, North America at +11% (the Usa at +9.9%), and Central and South America at +9.8%. Trends and figures, which will be analyzed at Simei, edition No. 30 (at Fiera Milano Rho, November 12-15), the International benchmark exhibition for wine-making and bottling machinery. With 575 companies and brands on display and foreign delegations coming from 32 countries (one of these, with 70 “extremely high-profile” buyers, exactly from the US, the export leader in the last 5 years), the exposition of Unione Italiana Vini takes stock of the situation regarding news and innovation in the technology applied to wine and beverage industry in all its phases, with a particular focus on wine, liquid food, oil, beer and spirits.