Istat: in the first 5 months of 2021 Italian wine exports grew by + 11.2%

The good news for Italian wine is that the difficulties on foreign markets seem to be over: one and a half years after the first lockdowns, the figures show a substantial return to normality. The exceptional news is that practically all the most important countries for Italian wine exports are growing in the first five months of 2021. As it emerges from Istat data, updated at the end of May and analyzed by WineNews, in the period January-May 2021, the total shipments of Italian wineries reached 2.689 billion euros, an increase of +11.2% compared to the same period in 2020, when the boom of US imports in the first two months of the year was counterbalanced by the effect of the forced closures in March and April. Better even than the first 5 months of 2019 (+6.3%), when Italian wine exports reached 6.4 billion euros: if in the coming months the third wave of Covid-19 can be managed without new restrictions, the Italian wine export record becomes decidedly, and somewhat resoundingly, within reach.
It is impressive, in a positive sense, the data from the United States, which even a month ago were lagging behind 2020, and which, instead, now show a spectacular +8.7%, with 684 million euros of Italian wine imported in the first five months of 2021. Canada is also in positive territory, at 141.6 million euros (+0.6%), confirming a good moment for Italian wine. Returning to the European shores of the Atlantic, the only sore point in the first five months of 2021 is Great Britain, which stopped at 231 million euros (-7.2%). On the other hand, Germany, the second market after the USA for Italian wine, did well, with 445.9 million euros, an increase of +5.6%. Switzerland was excellent, with 167 million euros, up 21% on the first five months of 2020. France is also growing, having purchased 80.1 million euros of Italian wines, 15.1% more than 2020.
Remaining in Europe, Sweden still left something behind (-4%), with 81.4 million euros, but it should be remembered that a year ago both Stockholm and Oslo recorded significant growth and completely bucked the trend, which did not hinder further growth in Norway, at 43.4 million euros (+1.2%). Austria also did well, with 40.4 million euros (up 7.4%), but even better was Russia, which posted a real breakthrough: up 42.5% to 47.3 million euros. Finally, the Asian markets, with China launched to 54 million euros, up 80% in these first five months of 2021. Even better, at least in percentage terms, is South Korea, with 37 million euros of Italian wine imported (+161%). Finally, Japan, still in decline: -2.9%, to 66.2 million euros.