Italian wine and Vinitaly bet on Asia, a €6.4 billion wine market

Invest heavily in supporting the promotion and market of Italian wine in the world, especially in Asia, because it is from the eastern markets, China in the lead, that growth will pass. It is the future of Vinitaly, the most important Italian wine fair, which is starting at its n. 53, in Verona (7-10 April), re-launching its mission of business development and promotion of wine culture in the world, also with the creation of two strategic fairground outposts in two areas of particular significance for Italian wine, Asia (in 2020, with a local partner to be announced at Vinitaly) and the United States (in 2022), as explained today in Rome by the president Maurizio Danese and by the director Giovanni Mantovani.
Also to relaunch an export that is the focus of the Vinitaly and Vinitaly-Nomisma Wine Monitor Observatory, illustrated by Denis Pantini, Head of Nomisma Wine Monitor, this year based on Asia, which shows that the area that includes China, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and other neighboring countries is growing exponentially in the demand for foreign wine.
Market worth 6.45 billion, up 227% in 10 years. So much so that Asia is close to the engagement of North America (Canada and USA), which stands at 6.95 billion euros (+65% in the last decade). Asia, dominated by France, for a value of 3.24 billion (half of the market). Australia (15.9% of the market) and Chile (8.9%) are also good, helped by favorable duties, while the Italian market share stands at 6.5% (419 million euros). But you can see the prospects for a change of pace and a brighter future. According to the Observatory, the import of Italian wines will record, in fact, in the next five years, a rate higher than the growth in consumption in the area: up to 8% in China, from 5.5% to 7.5% in South Korea, and from 3% to 4.5% in Hong Kong. An opportunity to be seized, also because, adds Mantovani, “there is more than one reason to believe in a positive change of course in our long march towards Asia. The climate is changing, both from the Italian supply and from the Asian demand. At the recent Vinitaly Chengdu, for example, we have seen unprecedented interest with the doubling of exhibitors and a convincing increase in buyers”.