T. Ozbun
Research expert covering food retail and all food topics for Italy and Brazil
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It is evident that wine is the leading alcoholic beverage in Italy, with production by volume and value far exceeding that of beer and spirits. In fact, beer production was about three times lower in terms of volume and five times lower in terms of value, while that of spirits was 31 times lower in terms of volume and 11 times lower in terms of value. The same can be said about the number of operating enterprises, with those producing wine being more than twice as many as those producing beer and more than three times as many as those producing spirits.Trade
With Italy being the largest exporter of wine worldwide, much of production is destined for other markets. In 2021, 22.3 million hectoliters of wine worth just over seven billion euros were exported from Italy. For beer, the volume exported was close to 3.8 million hectoliters and worth 284 million dollars, while for spirits the volume was 1.7 million hectoliters and worth 1.3 billion euros.Consumption
When it comes to drinking, Italians prefer to do it in a social context, and so it is not surprising that alcohol consumption declined in the years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Italy is rather low on the list of global per capita beer consumption, nor is it among the countries with the highest overall alcohol consumption per capita. In fact, Italians consumed an average of 31 liters of beer per person and only one liter of spirits per capita in 2020. On the other hand, when it comes to wine, the favorite alcoholic beverage of Italians, around 43 liters per capita were consumed in 2021, making Italy the second highest per capita consuming country after Portugal. Among those who consume alcohol, a large percentage of both male and female individuals preferred wine over other types of alcohol.
