ITALIAN WINE & FOOD INSTITUTE: IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2009, ITALIAN WINE EXPORTS TO THE U.S. FALL. ITALY LOSES ITS FIRST PLACE POSITION TO AUSTRALIA FOR U.S. WINE IMPORTS

The Italian Wine & Food Institute, headed by Lucio Caputo and Jacopo Biondi Santi, recently reported that wine imports to the U.S. from European countries, and in particular Italy, have experienced a sharp decline in the first quarter of 2009.
Italy, with a reduction of 10.8% in quantity and 21.1% in value, has now lost its first place position for export quantity along with a reduction of 8 points of the market quota, though it still maintains its position as one of the main wine supplying countries for the U.S.. Australia now leads the U.S. wine import classification with an increase of 58.6% in quantity and a decrease of 3.2% in value.

The trend that has emerged for the first quarter of 2009 is that overall consumption of wine in the U.S. continues to increase though the value has decreased (+19.3% in quantity and -14.4% in value during the first 4 months in respect to the same period in 2008), accommodating the requests of consumers who do not want to renounce wine altogether but are now turning to those that cost less.

This change has thus created a move towards countries that produce lower priced wines, like Australia, Chile, Argentina, and New Zealand, who have also notably increased the quantities produced.

European countries, on the other hand are being penalized by this trend (also due to the euro-dollar exchange rate) with notable reductions in value (-21.1% Italy, -39.1% France, -28.8% Spain, and -21.2% Germany). The average price per liter at origin is indicative of the significant difference between wines from Europe and those from other countries: 8.29 dollars in France, 4.72 in Italy, compared to 2.05 dollars in Chile, 2.13 in Australia, and 2.16 in Argentina).

Simultaneously, a notable increase has been registered in the exportation of low cost bulk wines from Argentina, Chile, and Australia (with average prices per liter of 0.46 dollars, 0.47, and 0.64 respectively).