Italian wine exports were down by 4.6 percent last year compared to figures from 2019, according to estimates from Wine Monitor, produced by the consultancy Nomisma.
 
But it could have been worse, according to Nomisma's Wine Monitor and other sources. Unexpected strong points for the year include sales in Eastern Europe, most notably Ukraine, and sales of prosecco, a light and accessible sparkling wine from northeastern Italy.
 
Wine Monitor noted that while exports for Italian wine were down by 4.6 percent, France -- Italy's chief competitor as the world's largest wine producer by volume -- saw its exports fall by 17.9 percent. Overall, global wine sales contracted by 10.5 percent.
 
 
Another strong area, prosecco sales, which, according to the financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, surpassed the rate milestone of sales of 500 million bottles last year, an increase of 2.8 percent compared to 2019.
 
According to Silvana Ballotta, chief executive of Business Strategies, a consultancy that focuses in part on Chinese markets, prosecco sales have been a growing part of Italy's wine exports to China, the world's fastest-growing major wine market according to trade publications.
 
Still, priorities for the Italian wine industry are likely to remain unchanged going forward, including focusing on convincing consumers in mature markets such as Europe and the United States to migrate toward higher quality products and to gain market share in high-growth markets like China.
 
"China remains one of the most important growth markets for Italian wine, even though the exports to the country fell in 2020," Ballotta told Xinhua. "Once the pandemic passes, I expect priorities to pick up where they left off."