ITALIAN WINES AND INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS

In 2021, the export of Italian wine was worth over 7 billion euros, about 5 billion less than the French figure. In terms of volume for the same year, it was equal to 22.2 million hectolitres, 1.7 million hectolitres lower than the result obtained by Spain.

Over 92% of exports by volume are concentrated in Europe and North America, with wide margins for growth both in the markets covered and in other geographical areas, such as China – the second non-European country for wine consumption after the USA.

Even though there is no shortage of quality, variety and generation of storytelling for Italian wine producers, in order to seize the export growth opportunities, it is essential to abandon the use of tactics, and move instead towards building a structured strategy.

This implies the definition of the objectives to be achieved, the study of the markets in terms of products, customers, channels and prices, the identification of the strategic framework to follow and then finally, the grounding of the projects into concrete actions.

In fact, the failure to pursue a structured process – too often bypassed in order to seize immediate opportunities, often results in unfulfilled potential or, in the worst cases: long-term investment loss.