Italy’s wine output is estimated to have dropped 14 per cent last year after a rainy summer, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s attaché in Rome, citing estimates from the Italian Association of Oenologists.
Production will drop to 41.6 million hectolitres, the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report on the USDA website. Unfavourable weather conditions were blamed, and Sicily's output declined 30 per cent.
Italy's own wine consumption has been falling for decades, partly due to anti-alcohol drinking campaigns, according to the Rome attaché. Italy’s wine exports increased 7 per cent to $6.8 billion this year, with shipments rising 7.3 per cent to $1.5 billion for the US and 20 per cent to $868 million for the UK, according to the attaché, citing data from Global Trade Atlas.
Wine imports for Italy decreased 6.8 per cent to $380 million because of reduced supply from Spain and the US, it said.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
