“Italian wine must accelerate trade agreements, first and foremost, Mercosur and India”

“The wine sector, more than the others, desperately needs to broaden its scope of action, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ task force is a decisive tool. We must accelerate trade agreements (Mercosur and India, first and foremost), and invest in being ever more present on key and emerging markets. Wine is in the middles of a very challenging period, in the US, where our estimates show -9% decrease in value in 2025, as well as outside the European Union, which closed the year at around -6.5%”, Lamberto Frescobaldi, president of the Unione Italiana Vini (UIV), said recently during the “Tariff Task Force” meeting at the Farnesina in Rome, in the presence of the the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani.
“The future”, Frescobaldi added, “will depend more and more on third-party markets. Therefore, the ITA Agenzia’s action will be crucial, as it will include taking advantage of the extraordinary resources set forth in the budget law, which UIV had requested and sustained. As far as Mercosur is concerned, UIV is requesting a temporary application of the agreement, once it has been ratified by one of the South American partners, to avoid an impasse caused by the referral to the Court of Justice. Finally, Minister Tajani announced that they appreciate the Italian diplomatic initiative to organize a business forum that will be held in Miami, in June”. The “Tariff Task Force” was established in July 2025, and is now at its 10th meeting. It was created to assist Italian companies in the current complex phase of transatlantic trade. In the final session, Tajani also focused on transatlantic trade relations as well as the EU's major trade agreements, such as with Mercosur and India, highlighting the opportunities these agreements will offer Italian businesses. According to the UIV Observatory, “the sharp decline in shipments (-23%), to the United States during the second half of last year coincided with the final implementation of tariffs, thereby causing a decrease on the market driven by a five-year-long decline in consumption. In 2025, Italian companies shouldered the bulk of the tariff by lowering their price lists on the average 10%, to avoid losing market share. However, it was only a partially successful maneuver. Italy maintained its market share over competitors, but - according to UIV estimates - Italian wine will still end the year on a decrease, compared to the performance over the last three years. The year 2024 registered -6% drop in volume and -9% drop in value, 177 million euro gap, and an estimated - 225 million euros in the second half of the year”.