Italy wine exports set to fall 4% in 2020, 1st decline in 30 years

Global sales of Italian wine are on pace to decline by 4 percent this year, according to data released by the agricultural association Coldiretti, ending a 30-year streak of increases, reported Xinhua.

Coldiretti, which based its conclusions on its own sources combined with data from Italy's National Statistics Institute, said sales were pushed lower due to factors directly related to the global coronavirus outbreak including the resulting global economic slowdown.

An unusually hot and dry summer and labor-related issues over the pandemic also play a role eroding wine production levels this year. Last month, Coldiretti said that Italian wine production would decline enough that Italy this year will fall behind France as the world's largest producer of wine measured by volume for the first time in four years.

Coldiretti said that despite the production and sales problems, the wine sector remains the most important part of Italy's agricultural export sector.

According to the data collected by Coldiretti, Italian wine export levels to Germany and the United States this year are about even with previous years. But exports to Britain were down by around 12 percent, and to France, by around 14 percent in the first five months this year. The biggest decline among the countries that import the most Italian wine, Coldiretti said, was with China, where exports were down by 44 percent during the period.

Coldiretti said it expects most export markets to recover in 2021.