Italy's wine exports in H1 shows "boom" growth

Italian wine exports have showed "boom" growth rates in terms of value in the first six months of 2015, Italy's association of professional enologists said.

"The upswing in international demand in the second quarter of 2015 has impressed a clear improvement to the whole (first) semester," Assoenologi wrote in a report released earlier in the week.

The total value of exports in the first semester of 2015 grew by 6.51 percent on an annual basis, increasing to 2.54 billion euros (2.83 billion U.S. dollars) from 2.38 billion Euros (2.66 billion U.S. dollars), the report data showed.

The Average Unit Value (AUV) of Italian wine exports also grew by 8.32 percent in the same period.

The Assoenologi report highlighted that "in all major areas in the world, wine exports values are growing at rates like (those) in an economic boom."

Sales abroad respectively increased by 19.1 percent in Central Asia, 17.1 percent in North America, 9.5 percent in the East Asia, 2.6 percent in the European Union (EU), and 3.6 percent in non-EU countries.

"The United States are the reference market, with a growing demand absorbing over 1.6 million hectolitres in volume (in the first semester), some 158,000 more than in the same period of 2014," Assoenologi director General Giuseppe Martelli said in the report.

"Exports value in the U.S. reached a 644 million euros record, exceeding the most optimistic expectations," he added.

Britain's demand for Italian wine also improved as the export value rose to 323 million euros in the first half of 2015 from 292 million euros last year, and volume also grew to 1.49 million hectolitres from 1.36 million hectolitres.

"The growing trend here stems from the still booming phenomenon of the prosecco (Italian sparkling wine), and a significant increase of wine on tap," Martelli explained.

Exports towards third countries showed a four-fold increase compared to those in the EU, rising by 10.8 percent against 2.6 percent respectively, the report added.

Although not a main reference area yet, East Asia grew importantly under this point of view.

Exports in the whole region increased to 165 million euros in the first semester of 2015, compared to 88 million euros in the same period of 2010.

As mentioned earlier, they also rose by 9.5 percent on an annual basis.

Much of this growth pertained Chinese consumers. Comparing the first semesters of 2015 and 2014, wine sales to China indeed rose by 25.4 percent in value and 9.7 percent in volume, according to Assoenologi data.

The report stressed that "also interesting was the average unit value (AUV) registered in China, which reached 3.46 euros per litre and was very near to the reference value (for the region) in Japan at 3.63 euros per litre," with a 15 percent increase on annual basis.

The overall positive figures would likely cheer up the entire Italian wine industry, which is a leading sector for Italian exports overall and, as such, crucial to the country's economy.

Italian winemakers also seemed ready to celebrate an excellent harvest this year with an estimated production of over 47 million hectolitres, according to preliminary data by Italy's Institute for Services to Agricultural and Food Markets (ISMEA) and Italian Wine Association (UIV).

Last year, Italy had lost its "supremacy" as world's biggest wine producer by volume at the benefit of France, after an unusual overcast weather had reduced the production to 41.6 million hectolitres, according to Italian Institute for Statistics (ISTAT) data.

In this perspective, the Assoenologi reported Italian exports kept decreasing so far this year: some 9.78 million hectolitres were sold abroad in the first half of 2015 compared to 9.95 million hectolitres in the same period last year. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endit