Italy's wine-producing sector saw a 10 per cent increase in investment last year, bucking the lacklustre trend in the economy, according to a report by Mediobanca.
The information was released on the eve of the Vinitaly fair and was based on polling of 122 wine producing firms with a turnover of over €25 million in the years 2009-2013.
Excluded from the research were companies that, while managing wineries in Italy, achieve turnover mainly with other products.
Italian sparkling wine (Prosecco) drove growth of the sector with 4.1 per cent on 2013, thanks to foreign sales (+6.2 per cent).
Exports of Italian wine increased the most to Asia (+16.9 per cent y/y), ahead of North America (+ 6.1 per cent), which accounts for one third of exports. Growth was almost flat in the EU (+1.7 per cent) that, however, absorbs half of foreign sales.
On the other hand, sales were down in Africa, Middle East and other European countries by 3.3 per cent (accounting for 11 per cent of the total), while the remaining one per cent of exports go to South America.
The bestsellers in terms of sales were Cantine Riunite-GIV Group with €536 million, followed by Caviro (€314 million) and Campari (€209 million).
Overall, 82 per cent of the wineries predicted that sales will hold steady this year, but only nine per cent are optimists and estimate a sales growth of over 10 per cent in 2015.
Separately, Italian farming group and lobby Coldiretti has warned that wine consumption has plumetted to a record low since the Unification of Italy in 1861.
National consumption has dropped to around 20 million hectoliters, behind the United States and France, down by 19 per cent since the crisis began in 2008. While the average consumption is below 37 litres per person, only 21 per cent Italians drink wine every day, and 48.4 per cent claim they do not ever drink wine.
At the same time, Italy is faced with record wine imports - 278 million kilograms in 2014 (+46 per cent on 2008), mostly from the Iberian Peninsula (154 million kg) and the US (47 million kg). To add insult to injury, Italian producers are also forced to compete with cheap prosecco imitiations from Crimea.
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