In the first two months of 2022, Italian wine shipments to the world at 1 billion euros (+21%)

The customs data on the first quarter of 2022, analyzed by the Observatory of Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv) and Vinitaly, tell of the slowdown, after the excellent results of 2021, of Italian wine shipments, which grows, yes, but at a bland pace, both compared to the average of exporting countries and, above all, compared to France, Italy’s first competitor, which came out at a distance in the U.S., after the cancellation of the duties imposed on transalpine wine by Trump, and is also able to do well in Japan, where Italy is losing ground. According to Istat data on wine exports, in the first two months of 2022, analyzed by WineNews, there was +21.1 percent growth over the first two months of 2021, to 1.013 billion euros of wine shipped worldwide. Albeit with a few sore notes, starting with the decline - albeit limited - in Germany, the only Western country to follow the downward trend of China and South Korea, while Japan closes positively, but the real boom is in the United Kingdom.

Let’s proceed in order, however, starting as usual with the closest markets, those of Old Europe. In France, shipments of Italian wine grew 45.8%, to 31.2 million euros, accelerating on the January figure. Also sustained was the growth in imports from Austria (+29%, to €17.8 million) and Switzerland (+16% to €60 million). Moving up Europe, the only sore note comes from Germany, the second most important market for Italian wine, which after a very long positive trend marks a slight contraction compared to 2021: -0.76%, to 151.6 million euros. It does much better in Belgium, which grows by +65 percent, to 33.4 million euros, while the Netherlands marks 8.3 percent, to 30 million euros.

In Northern Europe, the trend is rather homogeneous, with Denmark showing +13.4 percent, at 23.6 million euros, Sweden +12.8 percent, at 29.1 million euros, and Norway growing by +13.7 percent, at 13.9 million euros. As mentioned, extraordinary are the numbers coming from the United Kingdom, which in the first two months of 2022 imported something like 109.5 million euros of Italian wine, 76.9% more than the same period in 2021, which brings the United Kingdom powerfully back behind the U.S. and Germany. The last figure made in Europe is that of Russia, which closes the first two months of 2022 at 20 million euros in imports, up +32%: wine, we have often reminded, has been spared from the six sanctions packages launched so far by the EU against Moscow, but in the coming months, it is difficult to imagine a scenario of further growth, with the Russian economy destined to pay the costs of the absurd war in Ukraine.

Crossing the Atlantic, there are still excellent numbers coming from the United States, where Italian wine shipments grew 17.5 percent, to 235 million euros, and even better is Canada, which in the first two months of 2022 imported 61.9 million Italian wine, 29 percent more than in the first two months of 2021. In Asia, however, China’s long downward parabola continues, losing an additional 18.2 percent to 14.8 million. Also slowing down is the rising star of the last two years, at least on the Asian front, South Korea, which loses 5.3 percent, and stands at 10.7 million euros. Finally, Japan, on the other hand, registers a comforting +19.2 percent, to 26.7 million euros, and Hong Kong, a privileged gateway to many Italian fine wines in the Asian market, up 37.5 percent to 3.85 million euros.