The economy is struggling in Brazil, but the 30 million wine lovers give hope

The wine industry is waiting for Brazil. A few years ago it was an emerging market that, instead, has not yet “exploded”. We are talking about a country, as the panel at Veronafiere and Vinitaly’s wine business forum wine2wine suggests, “Brazil is serious: opportunities and pitfalls in a country of great opportunities”, including the participation of the importer Zahil, Winext, Ideal Consulting and Wine Intelligence. There are 153.4 million adults, and therefore potential consumers, drinking 306.48 million liters of wine per year, of which just 25% (76.87 million liters) is imported. The reason is quite simple, as the Brazilian economy, eighth in the world, is in trouble, and the long-awaited growth of the middle class has not yet developed. Consequently, half of the workers earn an average of 172 euros a month, while the income of the average family is just 287 euros. It seems obvious, then, that 7-10 euros for a bottle of wine purchased at the supermarket, for many, represent a real luxury. The average price upon which, at least when it comes to wine imported from Europe, and therefore from Italy, taxes weigh heavily, and can triple the price from country of origin to the supermarket shelf in Brazil.
There are however, some encouraging data able to somewhat clear the fog. In Brazil, for instance, there are 29.7 million regular wine drinkers, and 23.8 million of these regularly choose imported wine, while half of them (12.1 million) choose it weekly. Another aspect that could prove decisive for Italian wine is the large number of Italians living in Brazil – 520.000 - and there are many more Brazilians of Italian origin, which the Migrantes Foundation estimates are between 25 and 30 million. Now let’s get to the numbers, which better than any other aspect manage to take a clear snapshot of the situation. In 2017, Brazil imported wine from abroad for 335.56 million US dollars, while Chile took the lion's share for 146 million dollars and the market share of 43.7%, ahead of Argentina (51.1 million US dollars and 15.2% of the market) and Portugal (43.9 million US dollars and 13.1% of imports), Italy was at the foot of the podium totaling 12.18 million liters for a turnover of 33.8 million US dollars and a market share of 10.1%, a sharp increase from 8 million liters, for 22 million US dollars in 2016.
The main reasons the Brazilian consumer buys are, first of all, the brand (85%), then the vine (82%), the advice of family and friends (80%), the Region of origin (77%), the country of origin, (76%) and discounts (70%). Translating these reason into numbers: 82% of purchases are red wine, 15% white and 3% rosé wine.