2022 : Italian Wine, producers estimate growth of 4.8%.

Source : Pambianco

The wine sector looks forward to the current year with optimism, so much so that the major producers expect growth of 4.8%, which would reach 5.6% for the export component alone. Sales are driven by the success of bubbles (+ 5.7% overall revenues, + 7.5% exports), while still wines are expecting + 4.6% (+ 5.3% exports) . The operators exposed on the off trade channel (large-scale distribution and retail) are more skeptical about the future, while the greater use of direct sales guarantees greater security.

The data were revealed by the Mediobanca Research Area, which, as every year, published the survey on the national wine sector, examining the 251 main Italian companies with 2020 turnover exceeding 20 million euros and aggregate revenues of 9 , 3 billion euros, corresponding to 85.3% of the national turnover of the sector.

The forecasts start from a 2021 which, for the major Italian wine producers, closed with an increase in turnover of 14.2% (+ 14.8% the domestic market and + 13.6% abroad) . The ebit margin reported a slight increase to 6% compared to 5.4% in 2020, the net result went from 4.2% to 4.3% of turnover. Sparkling wines (+ 21%) accelerated more than still wines (+ 12.4%), while cooperatives contained growth to + 9.2% (+ 19.6% non-cooperatives). Proximity markets (EU countries) prevail with 41.2% of exports, the second destination area is North America (34.1%). Important growth (+ 22.8%) for Central and South America. 2021 preserved the large-scale distribution channel which, stable at 35.6% of the market, grew in value by 13.5% and led to the recovery of the horeca (+ 28.1%), which rose from 15.6% to 15.9 per cent.

There are two trends in consolidation: the premiumization of consumption and the greater attention to sustainability. Double-digit increases for Icon wines (+ 33.2%) and Premium (+ 20.2%), more contained for Basic wines (+ 8.7%), equal to half of total sales. Organic is holding on, with 2021 sales up 11%, for a market share of 3.3%, while a leap forward is observed for vegan wine (+ 24.8%) to 2.2% of the total . Interest is also growing in natural (+ 6.9%) and biodynamic (+ 2.4%) wines, each confined to 1% of the market.