First half of the year with less wine in US, Uk and German large-scale retail carts. Italy holds out

While Italian wine export data, according to Istat, remain positive for the first four months of 2024, “alarm bells” are also emerging for the wine sector. As noted by the Uiv-Vinitaly Observatory on a Nielsen-Iq basis, overall sales of wine in the three main markets of world demand are still slowing down: the balance of the first half of the year in the large-scale retail trade of the U.S., the U.K. and Germany marks a trend in marketed volumes at - 4.3%, for a value at 13.9 billion euros (- 1.5%). For Italy, on the other hand, the result among the shelves of the top three foreign markets is stable, but not for this reason considered satisfactory by Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv), with volumes at +0.1% and a counter value, still affected by inflation, of 2.3 billion euros (+0.9%). Compared to March, the Uiv-Vinitaly Observatory notes a worsening situation accused a bit everywhere due to the effect of a second quarter nosedive (volumes at -4.3%) and a consequent drop in the half-year demand for Italian wine in the U.S. (-2.1%), in the Uk (- 1.5%) but not in Germany (+ 2.7%), decisively sustained only by low-cost sparkling wines. Net of the growth of the sparkling type on the German market, the balance of Italian wine in the three countries would mark a contraction of 1.6%, according to the Uiv-Vinitaly Observatory.
Unione Italiana Vini (UIV) president Lamberto Frescobaldi explained that “the greater versatility of our production has allowed us to do better than our competitors, but the reduction in consumption is becoming increasingly evident. A modern vineyard”, Frescobaldi added, “must be matched by managerial choices that are equally current: the near future of Italian wine will necessarily have to pass from the contingency of yields (an aspect emphasized by Frescobaldi himself, yesterday, at WineNews, ed.) and from a more punctual analysis of markets and consumers, never as fluid as today”.
In the U.S. 973 million in sales from Italy, the -4.4% of still-frizz (- 2.5% in value terms) is contrasted by sparkling wines (which now account for more than a quarter of Italian wine sold worldwide), which, on the wave of the first quarter, remain in the green light (+2.8%). And if in the U.S. shopping cart every four bottles of Italian wine one is Prosecco (+ 4.3%), among the British, the incidence rises to 33%. But the heavy stop in the second quarter affected the Uk mid-year partial, both in sales of sparkling wines (- 0.4% volume and - 4.7% value) and still wines (- 2.2% volume and + 5.2% value), for a total of 845 million euros. On the German market, Italy is limiting the damage of an otherwise “asphyxiated” market, according to the Uiv-Vinitaly Observatory, thanks to the exploit of “fizzy wines” (+23.3% volume and +14.6% value), thanks to an average price that stands at 3.63 euros per liter (- 7% average price).