Italian winemakers are upbeat about the new year with some 90% expecting to boost both turnover and exports, according to a new study.
Based on a poll of Italy's 50 biggest wine producers carried out by the WineNews website and VeronaFiera, the organizer of Italy's biggest wine trade fair Vinitaly, the study found that producers expect to see turnover climb by between 5% and 15%, while exports should grow by between 10-15%.
Looking at the domestic market, the poll found that 70% of Italy's winemakers expected a good year, 20% said it would be an excellent year, while 5% thought that 2008 would be about average or more and 5% were pessimistic.
In regards to exports, some 90% of those interviewed expected to seek them expand by as much as 15% and 10% said they would hold at 2007 levels.
When asked which markets would be the most attractive for exports, the United States came in first, while Germany and Russia tied for second and Japan placed third.
They were followed respectively by Britain, Canada, China and South Korea.
In regards to which product they expected to do best in 2008, half the winemakers quizzed said bottles costing between five and seven euros.
While wine producers generally expect a good year, they are still concerned over a possible loss of competitiveness due to the strong euro and the overall decline in spending caused by fears of a recession, especially in the USA.
Italian winemakers are also wary of growing competition from the so-called emerging countries which are now producing wine, like India, as well as Italy chief competitors for exports Australia, South Africa and Chile.
