China and beyond, this is where the export of Italian wine will hit. Sace report
Numbers, trends and scenarios for Italian wine.
2020 has been a very difficult year for many sectors, the alcohol trade is no exception. The Mediobanca Research Area , the SACE Research Department and Ipsos have published the first joint report on the Italian wine & spirits sector , dedicated to the analysis of domestic and international markets and to the study of socio-cultural dynamics of consumption.
Meeting between institutions and stakeholders
The presentation event of the report allowed the meeting between institutions, companies in the supply chain, producers and representatives of the sector. In the opening talk, Gabriele Barbaresco, Director of Mediobanca Research Area, Alessandro Terzulli, Chief Economist of SACE and Enzo Risso, Scientific Director of Ipsos, examined the main results of the survey.
The results for 2020: drop in turnover
2020 of the major Italian wine producers closed with a decline in turnover of 4.1% (-6.3% in the domestic market, -1.9% abroad). The ebit margin (an index that is used to calculate a company's ability to generate profit from economic operations) reported a slight contraction, falling back to 5.8%, compared to 6.2% in 2019. the expense of this decline are sparkling wines that have lost more ground (-6.7%) than still wines (-3.5%). Cooperatives contained the decline to 2% while the GDO channel saw its incidence rise to 38% compared to 35.3% in 2019 (in value it grew by + 2.3%), that of the hotel sector contracted from 17.9% to 13.4% (-32.7%), while wine bars and wine shops went from 7% to 6.7% (-21.5%).
The boom in online sales
In the long days of lockdown, the Italians discovered online commerce also in the food and wine sector. Online sales of wine bottles in 2020 literally exploded with mind-boggling numbers: + 74.9% sales on proprietary web portals , + 435% for specialized online platforms, + 747% general marketplaces. Consequently, manufacturers have had to gear up by adjusting their online presence. In 2020 , investments in digital by the major wine producers increased by 55.8% , against a 14.3% decline in overall investments and 13.4% in advertising spending.
The medium-low range wine is very good, organic
Sales mainly concerned medium-low range bottles, about 71% of total sales were for bottles costing about 5 euros. But, according to the report, the shift to higher segments appears only to be postponed until post-pandemic consumption styles settle. The organic sector, naturally more expensive, also performed well, with an increase of 10.8%. Biodynamic wines, on the other hand, are struggling, down by 21.9% and confined to 0.1% of the market.
Wine and Spirits: international consumption
Australia, Great Britain and the USA are the countries in which the propensity to consume alcohol is highest. A little below are some countries of Eastern Europe (Serbia and Poland, with Russia more backward) and the Northern part of the world (Canada and Sweden). The “old” Europe of Germany, France and Italy shows similar average levels of acceptance. Probably for religious and cultural reasons much less tolerant towards alcohol are the countries of the South and South East of the world, with the only important exception of South Africa.
Italian exports: good expectations from China and the surprise of Vietnam
Italian exports of wines and spirits are worth 30% of our cross-border sales of food and beverages and amount to 7.8 billion euros in 2020. The sector comes from multi-year growth: + 6.3% annual average for wines in the 2010-19 period, which even rises to + 9.7% for spirits. 2020 marked a slowdown: wine exports contracted by 2.3%, spirits exports by 6.8%. Wine producers expect an increase in wine consumption of 3.8% per year for the two-year period 2021-2022. Expected export growth is expected to be 2% in the US and 3.1% in Germany. The outlook for the UK is problematic because, although there has been 2.4% growth per year, it is difficult to predict what will happen after Brexit. The greatest potential for Italian wines is given by China , with an expected growth of 6.3% per year in the two-year period 2021-22. A nice surprise could be reserved for Vietnam, a small market, but which includes a significant growth in consumption + 9.6%), also thanks to trade agreements with the EU that protect geographical indications and reduce tariffs and duties.
The map of Italian companies
The scepter of best performer in the sale of wine goes to the Cantine Riunite-GIV group , which in 2020 recorded a turnover of 581 million euros (-4.4% on 2019), clearly distanced from the second position held by another cooperative, Caviro from Romagna, whose turnover grew by 10%, approaching 362 million euros. The podium is completed by the Venetian Casa Vinicola Botter (230 million, + 6.4%). The Veneto , among other things, holds the primacy of wine produced with 20% of the national total and also the largest exporter, with 35.5% of total cross-border sales. Puglia follows with 19.6% in volume and 13.3% in value . Tuscany and Piedmont have about 5% of the volumes, but double the weight if you look at the value. The companies with revenues exceeding 200 million euros are: the Tuscan Antinori, whose 2020 turnover of 215 million euros has suffered a decline of 12.5%, the thirty Cavit (2020 turnover of 210 million euros, + 9.6% on 2019), the Piedmontese Fratelli Martini (208 million euros, + 1.1% on 2019), IWB (204 million, + 29.7%) and the Veneto-based Enoitalia which achieved growth of +0 , 8%, reaching 201 million euros.
Evolution of consumption after the pandemic
The pandemic has changed the consumption habits of Italians. The propensity of consumers to buy bottles of wine in supermarkets fell by 6 points from 58% to 52%. Large-scale distribution remains the preferred channel for the purchase of wine , but consumers are increasingly looking for the quality, value of the place, its products and businesses. A trend confirmed by the percentage of people who started going to wine bars, wineries and specialized shops. There is also an increase in wine buyers in the cellars of producers : in the pre-Covid period, the Italians who had never visited a producer's cellar were 46%, today they have fallen to 39%. Online shopping is the star of the last year . Owned e-commerce allows people to directly access the winemaker: before the lockdown 71% of Italians had never made an online purchase from a winery's sites, today the share has dropped by seven points (64%).
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/cina-e-non-solo-ecco-dove-sbanchera-lexport-di-vino-italiano-report-sace/ on Fri, 09 Jul 2021 11:49:09 +0000.