With wine now Italy’s most exposed major sector to US tariffs, April exports fell by 7.5%. UIV leadership calls for a strategic shift to adapt to new market realities.

The trend for Italian wine exports is worsening, closing the first four-month period with a volume trend of -3.7%. Values have also turned negative for the first time in 2025 (-0.9%, to €2.5 billion). As anticipated by the Unione Italiana Vini (UIV), the gap in the American market in April is a significant factor. April, the first month with 10% tariffs (though they were at 20% from April 2-8), closed with a -7.5% decrease in volume and -9.3% in value compared to April of the previous year.

According to analysis by the UIV Observatory on Istat data, in addition to the expected reversal in the world’s top market, the overall performance in non-EU countries is concerning (-7.4% in volume and -1.7% in value), while the EU market remains flat. The Observatory states that with US tariffs, tensions in Russia, the progressive decline in Chinese demand, and reduced purchasing power and consumption, the trend is set to worsen in the second half of the year.

This will also be affected by the US inventory stocking rush—which began in the last quarter—that inflated the 2024 performance. UIV, which can also anticipate May data, reports that exports to the USA slowed further (-3.4% volume and -3% value), while the general performance of other non-EU buyers has slightly improved.

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Industry Leadership Calls for Urgent Adaptation

“While acknowledging that the decline in consumption affects not only Italian wine but that of all major producing countries,” said the president of Unione Italiana Vini, Lamberto Frescobaldi, “it is now essential to recognize how the demand scenario has changed—a cold shower after years of growth and the recent acceleration in shipments. For this reason, it is more urgent than ever to face the facts and adapt—hopefully temporarily—to the new market conditions. In this sense, the US tariffs demand an acceleration. We must—and we are capable of doing so—safeguard an asset that, with a surplus of €7.5 billion, has long been on the podium of Italian sectors on the trade balance with foreign countries.“

For UIV’s Secretary-General, Paolo Castelletti: “To a global market context that is far from flourishing, we now add the unmanageable 30% US tariff. For wine, which is the most exposed sector among the top 30 product categories with a 24% share of the US market against a national average of 10.4%, the damage would be devastating. Not only due to lost sales to the world’s top buyer but also because of the indirect effects on the domestic and continental markets: the unsold goods would create a saturation effect in traditional marketplaces, with a consequent depression of prices.”

“It is now necessary,” concluded Castelletti, “to close the negotiations in the best possible way and, at the same time, work on the future, from managing a production that is now anachronistic in terms of volume to breaking down trade barriers in world areas with high growth potential.”

Breakdown by Key Markets and Categories

Among buyer countries in the first four months, the United States remains in positive territory, though its growth has halved in one month (+0.9% volume and +6.7% value with €666 million). Export volumes to Germany (-3.3%) and the United Kingdom (-4.8%)—the second and third largest markets, respectively—have declined. Following them, Switzerland and France are stable, with Canada showing good growth along with more limited growth from the Netherlands and Belgium. Finally, double-digit declines in the East are concerning, with Japan and once again China, and the collapse of Russia (-65%).

For the first time in years, sparkling wines are also in the red with losses of 1.1% in volume and 1.5% in value, while bottled still/semi-sparkling wines are down 5.6% in volume and 1.0% in value.

Italian Wine Exports – 1st Quarter 2025

TOP 5 COUNTRIES

Unione Italiana Vini