UIV-Vinitaly Observatory: Italian wine exports in 2024 are “favorable, but not convincing”

2024 is a very important year for the wine world, as many consider it the year of recovery, following a brilliant 2023. The first positive signs have come from exports, as Winenews has analyzed, based on ISTAT data. In the period January to April 2024, Italian wine exports, globally, reached more than 2.5 billion euros (+7% in value compared to the same period in 2023), and 690.76 million liters (+5.8% in volume compared to the first four months of 2023). Obviously, even though the numbers are positive, and are therefore an excellent signal for the sector, it is still early to really understand how things will go on the markets this year, which we are hoping is the year of recovery.
The UIV-Vinitaly Observatory talked about “Italian wine exports in the first quarter that were good, but not that convincing”. In April, Italian wine exports were mostly positive for the first four months, which closed on a trend of +5.8% in volumes and +7% in values (over 2.5 billion euros). However, the data the Italian Statistics Institute, ISTAT, released, did not fully satisfy the players in the sector. According to the Observatory, the very high increases in orders from the Russian Federation and Japan - protagonists of 60% of the overall increase in exports - are, though, destined to decrease in the second part of the year. On one hand, the increases from Russia were strongly influenced by the demand, which in the four-month period registered a rush for stocks of wine and sparkling wine (volumes at +120.5%). The reason for this high demand was due to the increase in excise duties, starting from May 1st, with rate increases of up to 243%. In Japan, (+36% volume), instead, there was a large and unusual increase in orders for wine and agri-food from all over Europe, which is most likely linked to the announced freight road transport reform law reducing maximum working hours for truck drivers and couriers, which are among the highest in the world, that went into effect in April. This factor has caused “supply stress” at all levels of logistics since the beginning of the year, the same as happened in 2021/22 worldwide, following the container crisis.
Furthermore, the import-export misalignment in Germany needs to be explained. In the same period, the export figure grew +0.4%, while at German customs, the import indicator fell to -12%, resulting in a gap of 25 million liters. Instead, our main competitor in bulk wine, Spain, reports an aligned export/import growth of around 20%”.
The Observatory reported, however that “this April - compared to the previous one, which was the worst in the last 5 years - is positive and has had an excellent reaction in various strategic locations. Compared to the quarterly report, according to ISTAT, the United States and Germany gained 3 percentage points and repositioned themselves in positive territory (volumes +2.6% and +0.4% respectively), the United Kingdom registered a new increase (+12%), Switzerland recovered from -6% to -1%, and Canada did very well (+5%). China, though, compared to the quarter, lost 8 points, closing volumes ordered at +3%”.