“With the war, markets worth €80 million blocked: the alarm by Uiv (Unione Italiana Vini)

As it has been reported, if 2026 exports got off to a clearly negative start (-18% in January 2026 compared to the same month in 2025, according to Istat data analyzed by WineNews), the uncertainties stemming from the war in the Middle East are not only weighing on the market overall, but are also blocking access to some countries. “One can’t fail to note the halt in orders in around twenty markets, from the Gulf countries to neighboring ones, which together account for an annual export value of 80 million euros”, explained Lamberto Frescobaldi, president of Uiv (Unione Italiana Vini), at the National Council of the wine producers organization held at the Girlan winery in Cornaiano (Bolzano) - but, beyond this, there are major critical issues on the horizon, ranging from the cost of dry raw materials to transport costs, as well as the decline in tourism and wine tourism, factors which are unsustainable for a sector already strained by a clearly contracting demand”.
Hence the call, addressed to institutions, for greater support for the sector: “as Uiv - said Frescobaldi - we are urging the Italian Government and the European Union to provide urgent responses on the possible measures to be adopted, including in favor of our sector in order to mitigate current and future downward dynamics”.
The additional costs estimated for dry raw materials alone (such as glass, paper, cardboard, capsules and wire hoods), explains Unione Italiana Vini (Uiv), “could affect the final price of a 4 euros bottle in a range between 10% and 20%, and wine companies - already forced by U.S. tariffs to lower their export price lists overseas by an average of 11% in 2025 and 13% in the first quarter of 2026 - wouldn’t be able to absorb the extra cost. And if this is compounded by rising transport costs, both domestically, where the first tariff increases are already being recorded, and on international routes, with container prices estimated to rise between 20% and 50%, as well as by the risk generated by other dynamics, starting from tourism and wine tourism to inflationary or recessionary risks, it becomes impossible, at present, to quantify the real risk for the supply chain linked to all these factors deriving from the Iranian conflict”.