Italian wine has started to run again and, after burning 3 billion in turnover in the year of Covid, plans to close at the end of December with 11 billion euros, an increase of 9%. The road to return to 13 billion in production in 2019 is still long but possible, where it is also necessary to take advantage of the lockdown period by betting on the web and on exports, in particular Prosecco and rosé wines. This is the framework of the sector outlined in the National Wine Forum 2021 promoted by Cia-Agricoltori Italiani in collaboration with the Italian Wine Union. “It is necessary to implement the resources on promotion especially on those markets where Italy can grow,” said the Minister of Agricultural Policies Stefano Patuanelli, who spoke at the meeting. But according to Ernesto Abbona, the president of UIV, “the instrument of EU promotion should be defended at the European level, as part of the reform that Brussels is working on in recent months, as the prohibitionist policies of the Commission could exclude wine and other sectors of the our agri-food sector from funding for the promotion of agricultural products ». Therefore it is “essential in the coming months to make a common front to prevent this plan, leveraging the irreplaceable role of wine and its PDO and PGI for the development and sustainability of the territories”.
According to the associations, in fact, the full revival of the sector will not take place before 2022, because we have to wait for the stable recovery of restaurants and wine bars which last year lost 40% and 23% respectively; but also tourism, as well as world trade, hoping that the Delta variant does not impose new restrictions. 2021 is therefore a decisive year in which, the CIA president Dino Scanavino specified, it is necessary to focus on new channels, markets and trends, betting on e-commerce that has grown by 120% in the first six months of the year. Corporate sites and dedicated portals have increased by 75% to meet the many consumers who now buy on the web; just think that out of the 52% who did it for the first time during the lockdown, at least 40% continue to use this channel. It is also imperative to export to strategic countries such as China.
“To the minister – added Abbona with Luca Brunelli, CIA manager for sector policies – we propose to promote the launch of an international institutional communication campaign to relaunch the image of our country through the narrative of its wine territories and its typical agri-food products ».