A research developed by Valerio Mancini, director of the Rome Business School – Research Center and Camilla Carrega, coordinator of the Master in Food and Beverage Management.
Italy of wine at the time of covid-19. the new consumption map and the most penalized countries, the rising stars and the consumers of the future with China at second place in the world and Canada’s overtaking Italy, employment opportunities with the under-25 boom and many new jobs, evolution of business models towards transition 3.0.
The new research report from Rome Business School – Research Center highlights Changes, Global Trends and Challenges of the most popular product in a sector that loses 9% of its turnover and will be worth 207 billion dollars in 2022.
A sector the wine industry that in 2019 alone was worth 6.4 billion in exports in Italy, has 310,000 companies and globally is expected to reach the value of 207 billion dollars by 2022. How will this change in the Post Covid era? 2020 marks a change of scenery with new players that undermine the primacy of leading states, despite the health emergency, new consumption habits and spending trends and a wider scale of job opportunities, especially for young people who show talent in this sector, the identity of excellence for the Italian economy.
The research conducted by the Rome Business School – Research Center also fits into this context, highlighting: the areas most penalized in terms of production and consumption, the rising stars both in terms of Italian regions and new countries that will appear on the scene, the evolution of business models where we are witnessing a boom in companies led by young people under 25 and women, new professions linked to wine, and possible lines of action to fully implement the transition to a 3.0 wine market.
The health emergency from Covid-19, the relative social distancing, the tendency to decline in domestic consumption, in parallel with the sharp increase in US demand, has made Italy slide to third place among consumer countries. You drink less and with higher quality – with a real boom in organic wines and firm leadership in the hands of Sicily, which, with 36 thousand hectares, represents 34% of the largest vineyard area in Italy – but the penetration rate remains equal to 84% of Italians. Lambrusco is confirmed as the most popular wine in Italy, first in terms of volumes, closely followed by Chianti, which however holds the first place for sales in value. Regarding whites and bubbles, we find starting from Lombardy: Franciacorta, Pinot, Chardonnay and Vermentino Sardo. Among the emerging wines, instead, Lugana depopulated, placing itself firmly in first position, followed by Primitivo Pugliese and cascading from Passerina Marchigiana, Ribolla Gialla Friulana and Negroamaro from Puglia.
From a regional point of view, in 2019 the strong progress of Sicily (+ 2.4% to 45.5%) and Sardinia (+ 1.4% to 49.4%), which are still at the bottom of the list for consumer penetration, should be emphasized. On the other hand, among the regions with the most important consumption, there is a decline in Emilia-Romagna (-1.4% compared to 2018, to 61.1%), which still remains the first Italian region in this ranking. According to an estimate based on ISTAT data, it emerged that in 2020 the Italian regions with the highest rate of wine consumption within a population ranging from 11 years upwards are Valle D’Aosta, Tuscany and Umbria, while the lowest rate of consumption of wine (and beer) is relative to Tuscany and Umbria. Italy, world leader in production but will lose ground in exports, expected 9% decline As regards production, it was facing the 2020 wine market with an important role: in 2019, in fact, in addition to having confirmed the world leadership in terms of production, with 47.5 million hectoliters, had also regained the primacy, albeit of measure, in volume exports which had reached 21.6 million hectoliters of wine (+ 10%) against 21.4 millions of Spain.
The driving regions of Italian exports are: Piedmont (+ 4.2%), Veneto (+ 3.2%) and Tuscany (+ 4.4%), which together account for almost 70% of total exports of Italian wine for a total value of 4.46 billion euros. Molise gains ground (with an extraordinary performance of + 15.9%), but the prize for the greatest growth is that of the small Aosta Valley, whose wine exports reached + 51.8%. As regards, however, the future of Italian wine exports, the consumption projections to 2025 instead show quite marked changes in the shares of individual countries compared to today. The economic crisis could slow down the growth of world consumption. For 2020, in fact, a decline (-9%) is estimated, which could be partially offset by the “rebound” of 2021 (+ 7%).
China should reach second place after the US, positioning itself ahead of France and Germany, while the United Kingdom would overtake Italy, thus placing itself in fifth place. It will be Canada to slightly overtake Italy in fourth place. Even for premium wine, China will strengthen its lead over the US, while the UK will find itself aligned with Germany for the third place. Finally, the contribution to the growth of African consumption is important.
Globally, we are witnessing a growth in the wine market so much that it is expected to reach the value of 207 billion dollars by 2022. There are only ten countries in which more than half of the wineries market worldwide converge: first place is the United States with a turnover of 32 billion dollars, followed by China, where the wine market has earned 24 billion dollars in the last year. In the last step of the podium, in third place, is France, with a value of 14.4 billion dollars. Italy is only fifth, with 9.7 billion dollars. The top ten countries hold half of the entire world wine market. Among the most important markets, Brazil, with 3.6 billion dollars, Spain, with 3.4, a rather strange figure given that it is the third largest producer in the world, followed, surprisingly, by India, whose wine market is worth 2.7 billion dollars.
Globally, we are witnessing a growth in the wine market so much that it is expected to reach the value of 207 billion dollars by 2022. There are only ten countries in which more than half of the wineries market worldwide converge: first place is the United States with a turnover of 32 billion dollars, followed by China, where the wine market has earned 24 billion dollars in the last year. In the last step of the podium, in third place, is France, with a value of 14.4 billion dollars. Italy is only fifth, with 9.7 billion dollars. The top ten countries hold half of the entire world wine market. Among the most important markets, Brazil, with 3.6 billion dollars, Spain, with 3.4, a rather strange figure given that it is the third largest producer in the world, followed, surprisingly, by India, whose wine market is worth 2.7 billion dollars.
Despite the crisis, the wine sector shows interesting working potentials, with wine companies employing around 210,000 employees, including 50,000 young people. In fact, we have witnessed a real “return to the vineyard” by producers under 25, with a record increase of 38% and it is estimated that wine producers under 25 have risen to 1200 in just one year, out of a total number of 210 thousand employees including 50 thousand young people. In addition, around 20-degree courses in viticulture, oenology, food and wine and nutrition and over 400 post graduate courses related to wine are active in the various universities throughout Italy. After their studies, 41% of students find a relevant job, of which 87% in Italy.
The wine professions are numerous and involve very different sectors, for example responsible for the analysis and control of grape quality, with technical / specific chemical knowledge, oenologists, cellarmen and sommeliers. On the other hand, the figure of the Wine Blogger is more modern, that is, specialists in the wine sector, connoisseur and connoisseur of wine bars and wineries that he sponsors by giving advice and guides to enthusiasts and / or connoisseurs; the Wine Tour Guide involved in the construction of food and wine itineraries and itineraries; the Brand Ambassador at the forefront responsible for the communication and sale of the product and finally the Wine Hunter, literally the “wine hunter”, a high-profile professional figure whose function is to discover the best wines and then make them known and pass them on to the customer, increasing the profitability of production companies.
The study by the Rome Business School highlighted the need to focus on a real “Project Italy” starting from a bureaucratic simplification that is currently slowing us down compared to other countries that should unite institutions and territories to support promotion and marketing of Italian wine.
The positive consumption trend recorded during the lockdown, together with the sales made by the e-commerce and wine delivery universe, which in the main Italian cities recorded dizzying numbers (+ 500% in one month only in the city of Rome ) certainly will not be able to compensate for the real chasm in consumption due to the closure of the channel of bars and restaurants. In fact, it will be necessary to seek a strategy to accompany and support companies towards the 3.0 transition of Italian wine with interventions in favor of digital transformation, greater sustainability of the supply chain, of a regulatory nature and regulatory simplification.
“The research conducted by the Rome Business School – Research Center offers an updated and detailed information framework on the wine sector at a national, regional and, more broadly, international level from which economic and institutional operators can draw useful food for thought and operational indications. – comments Antonio Ragusa – Dean of the Rome Business School – In this analysis we also wanted to investigate the evolution of the professionalism connected to the wine sector which, despite the crisis, are very promising.
The results highlight the need for new skills linked not only to production techniques, but increasingly to management, marketing and business development aspects in a global framework. For this reason, we have prepared a specific training offer on the management of the food and wine sector, Master in Food and Beverage Management, evaluated in the Eduniversal rankings among the best in the world.”
