Which countries toasted to Italian wine in 2017? According to latest report by Mediobanca, the most active area was Asia (+21.1% in sales on 2016) which, however, accounts only for 4.2% of all exports. Though carrying only 1.4% of exports (by value), South America is also experiencing a positive trend: +20.1%. EU countries represent the main market for Italian wine with 53.4% of exports and an 8.6% increase compared to 2016. Africa, the Middle East and non-EU European countries made up for 9.1% (5.8% growth rate) while North America grew by 5.7% for a total share of 31.9%. Overall, Italian wine exports grew by 7.7% in 2017.
The performance of Italian wine top players
The three largest producers in terms of turnover were the Cantine Riunite-Giv group (594 million euro, 5.1% growth), Caviro (315 million euro, 3.9%), and Antinori (221 million euro, 0.4% on 2016). Then there is Zonin, with a 4,2% growth for a total of 201 million euro, and Fratelli Martini on 194 million euro (+13,3%). In 2017, seven companies recorded revenue growth increases by more than 10%: La Marca (+30.7%), Farnese (+28%), Ruffino (+15.5%), Enoitalia (+14.5%), Contri (+14.1%), Fratelli Martini (+13.3%), and Mezzacorona (+13.1%). Some of these companies focus almost completely on exports: Botter (96%), Ruffino (93.3%), Fratelli Martini (89.9%), Mondodelvino (85.4%), Zonin (85.1%), La Marca and Schenk (both on 82.7%), Farnese (81.9%) and the Cavit cooperative (80%). Only 8 groups have exports for less than 50% of their sales.
Veneto and Tuscany: the best performing companies
The ranking of producers based on their balance sheets features as many as 6 Veneto producers, three from Tuscany and one from Piedmont in the top ten: Villa Sandi, Mionetto, Vinicola Serena and Botter with the best performances, followed by Masi, the Tuscan Ruffino and Santa Margherita. Also in 2017, the Tuscany and Veneto based companies were once again the best performing in terms of profitability (profit on turnover): Antinori (25%), Frescobaldi (20.5%), Santa Margherita (17.2%), Ruffino (15.7%), Botter (8.6%), Mionetto (5.7%), and Villa Sandi (5.5%). The Veneto companies excel above all in terms of income (ROI at 9.4% against 6.8% nationwide, ROE at 11.4% against 7.9%); also their Tuscan counterparts (ROI at 8.7% and ROE at 8.4%) appear to have solid balance sheets (financial debt on 33.2% of own resources against 63.4% nationally), while being efficient (cost of work per unit of product on 44.4% against 58.6%), and having export share of 64.4% compared to 51.4%.
