First four months 2024 positive for Italian wine exports: +7% in value and +5.8% in volume

A significant breath of fresh air, after the recent slowdown that, while remaining in positive terrain, had raised some small alarm bells. But the Italian wine market in the world, having reached the “halfway mark” of the first four months of 2024, continues its march with a plus sign in front, showing a certain vitality and looking forward to the months to come, in the knowledge that there are still many difficulties. In the period from January to April 2024, in fact, Italian wine exports, globally, exceeded 2.5 billion euros (+7% in value over the same period last year) and 690.76 million liters (+5.8% in volume over the first four months of 2023). In the last survey, quarterly, the figure was +3.8% in value and 3.2% in volume, demonstrating a fruitful month of April for Italian wine. A scenario, however, to be analyzed in detail, country by country, but where in any case the main trading partners, with the exception of France, show signs of growth in imports, starting with the United States, Italy’s first wine market. From the Istat data updated today and analyzed by WineNews, it can be seen that the United States maintains its leadership in terms of Italian wine imports with 626 million euros (+6% over the figure for the same period in 2023, with a surge compared to the +2.2% in March), ahead of Germany, which with 375.6 million euros (+1.9%) is the leading European partner and the second worldwide, recovering the negative figure (-2.2%) noted in March. Completing the podium is the United Kingdom, which among the “bigs” makes the biggest leap forward (+11.5%) with some 246.5 million euros of imports, continuing a remarkable growth trend.
The first negative “bulletin” is found with Switzerland, already down in March, but still with a deficit almost “halved” in April (-3.3%), worth 130.7 million euros. Switzerland is now “tailed” by Canada, which instead continues its ascent (+11.4%) with 115.7 million euros of imports in the four-month period. They continue to amaze, positively, the results of Russia, which, compared to a year ago, went from 45.5 million euros of Italian wine imports to 102.8 million in the first four months (+125.7%), a “three-digit” march that does not stop. As in March, but in a smaller percentage, France is still going down (-6.4%) with just over 100 million euros of export value for Italy. Also doing well is the Netherlands (+5.9%) whose imports are worth 79.3 million euros, while Belgium is stable (69.87 million euros). Closing out the “top ten” is Sweden, which with 63.6 million euros in the first four months makes -3.3% compared to a year ago, continuing a negative 2024. Decidedly different, on the other hand, is the result of Austria (+20.7%), which exceeded 50 million euros in imports, with Denmark coming close to the same threshold (49 million euros, +4.1%).
Chapter Asia, finally, a giant market that, hopefully, can continue to grow at an even greater rate. Japan, meanwhile, exceeds 61.2 million euros in imports with a jump of 14.15% compared to a year ago; China, on the other hand, has progressed little in terms of Italian wine imports in the last 12 months (+1.2%), which total 29.3 million euros. Down is South Korea (-6.2%) at 17.1 million euros, as well as Hong Kong (-9.5%), which passes 8.3 million euros.
Worth noting, on an overall level, is the growth of the “sparkling wines made from fresh grapes” category (+11.2%) worth 684 million euros, driven by the Prosecco Dop phenomenon (+11.2%), which, with 519 million euros, covers about one-fifth of Italian wine imports worldwide. It is worth, perhaps, repeating that it is still early to really understand how things will go in the markets in this hopefully recovering year. But, at the same time, it must be said that the data cover a third of 2024, thus a significant part of the year, and to remain confined to positive terrain, with so much of an upward trend in the last month, is nonetheless an interesting and significant sign for Italian wine.