In the first four months of 2023, the global growth of Italian wine is slowing down: +2%

In the first four months of 2023, the global growth of Italian wine shipments slows, reaching 2.36 billion euros (+2%), in value, with a slight drop in volume, to 652.6 million litres (-0.8%), and an average price that grows much slower than inflation. The global economic difficulties, which have only recently seen a slowdown in inflation in the United States, which is offset by a decline in Chinese exports and a significant stagnation of growth in Europe, do not help the performance of Italian wine in a consumer market where wine, in general, is struggling. For the umpteenth time, the certainty is in the strength of Germany’s and the United States’ numbers, even in such a fragile macroeconomic context.
According to Istat data on foreign trade for the period of January-April 2023, as analysed by WineNews, France continues to provide satisfaction, with 107 million euros of imported Italian wine (+24.8%). Switzerland loses money, reaching 135 million euros (-2.1%), while Austria gains 41.5 million euros (+6%). As previously stated, Germany continues to grow, albeit slowly, up to 368.7 million euros (+2.7%), as does the Netherlands, at 74.9 million euros (+6.3%), and Belgium, at 69.8 million euros (+0.5%).
Moving north, the drop in Denmark is concerning, as it imported 47.1 million euros of Italian wine (-16.4%) in the first four months of 2023, but it also brings Norway into negative territory, at 33 million euros (-5%), while Sweden remains stable at 65 million euros. The figure for Great Britain should be interpreted similarly to a month ago, which is still decreasing over the same period in 2023, but still reduces the negative balance, with 217.6 million euros of imports (-2.6%).
Moving away from Europe, especially politically, the growth of Italian wine imports from Russia continues unabated, reaching 45.5 million euros in the first four months of the year (+65.5%). On the other side of the world, the growth in the United States was encouraging, at 590 million euros (+4%), but the drop in shipments to Canada did not stop, and was worsening, to 103.8 million euros (-22.7%). Finally, Asia, where exports of Italian wine to China collapsed to 28.9 million euros (-24.4%), while South Korea did even worse, with just 18.2 million euros (-32.1 %). Not even Japan can reverse the trend, with 53.6 million euros of imported Italian wine (-8.6%) and Hong Kong alone, with a turnover of 9.2 million euros, able to close positively (+24.8%).