ITALIAN WINE PRODUCTION GREW IN 2016 AND REACHED A RECORD IN VALUE OF 10.1 BILLION EUROS (+3%), THANKS TO EXPORTS. SLIGHT GROWTH IN DOMESTIC MARKET SALES TO 4.5 BILLION EUROS, THANKS TO MASS RETAIL (+ 1%), SAID COLDIRETTI

Wine and sparkling wine sales in Italy grew 3%, reaching record levels of over 10.1 billion euros in 2016, mainly due to exports that have reached the highest ever: 5.6 billion euros (+ 4%). domestic market sales amounted to about 4.5 billion euros, partly due to the increase in mass retail (+ 1%). These are the results of the Italian farmers association Coldiretti analysis presented at Vinitaly in Verona.

In 2016, sales grew 6% compared to 2015 in the US, confirming it is Italy’s number one customer, followed by Germany, where growth was 2%, and the United Kingdom where exports grew 2%.
“What worries us in 2017, therefore, are the US President Donald Trump’s new protection measures of favoring local production, which after a tumultuous growth has now reached - said Coldiretti - 22.5 million hectoliters in production, and fourth place after Italy, France and Spain. But in 2016, the US won the world record in wine consumption of 30.1 million hectoliters with Italy, which is the number one supplier and a quarter (24%) of its foreign sales on the US market”.