United States, China, Japan, Korea and Belgium. These are the aims of the Institute for wine and vine (Irvv) for Sicilian cellars. “A programme” explained president Leonardo Agueci, “that is part of the overall strategy for the promotion of Sicilian wines, which is one of the main aims of the Institute”.
“At the moment the internationalization of Sicilian wine companies is a fundamental choice in order to guarantee competitiveness for the future”, explained the Irvv director Dario Cartabellotta.
According to a survey carried out by the Institute, Sicily is, amongst the largest wine regions in Europe, the one that exploits less the opportunities offered by international markets. Also on a national level, considering an export rate of 30%, Sicily is under 10%. “It is fundamental”, said the director, “that our actions suit the various kinds of Sicilian wine companies and their ability to intercept distribution”.
At the moment wine is the food product most involved in international trading and so companies’ income depends on their ability to improve selling on international markets. Without forgetting that, in the last ten years, countries which traditionally produce wine, Italy, France and Spain, have experienced a reduction of wine consumption, while in other countries such as the USA, northern Europe and Asia wine is becoming more and more popular.
Europe and the European Union, represent the greatest part of the wine supply and consumption, and in the last twenty years have experienced a reduction of their influence in the sector, especially in the wine-cultivated surface, production, consumption and export – while other continents are improving their performances. The most evident reduction concerns export, going from the monopoly of the 1980s to the present situation, in which one third of exports comes from non-European countries.
Since the crucial element is the competiveness of the wine produced in the European Union for international markets, it must be underlined that the reduction of the amount is being accompanied by a growth of export by countries of the EU, a situation that determined a strong presence of European wines outside the countries in which they are produced.
And if in the 1990s export for France, Spain and Italy skyrocketed, the following period registered a noticeable imbalance between the competitive capacity of different geographical areas.
During the new millennium the most important exporters slowed down the pace of their selling abroad, while amongst the smaller players, Germany and Portugal registered an increase.
This data confirms once again the importance of initiatives to bring closer international demand and Sicilian wine offer.
For further information please visit www.vitevino.it, or contact direzione@vitevino.it and Daniele Messina 00393203775949.
Coming next:
1. WORKSHOP SAN FRANCISCO 19-20 August 2010
2. WORKSHOP SHANGHAI 23-24 August 2010
3. MEGAVINO BRUXELLES 23-25 October 2010
4. VINITALY US TOUR (Boston, New York e Chicago) 25-28 October 2010
5. VINITALY JAPAN COREA (November-December 2010)
Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute
