Agriculture : Romania imported almost four times more wine in 2023 than it exported

Romania has imported wine worth 268.4 million euro and exported worth 72.5 million euro, 3.7 times less, according to an analysis made by Wines of Romania, platform dedicated to the promotion of the Romanian wine, on the basis of the data from the National Institute for Statistics.According to a press release sent by Wines of Romania, the final figures for 2023 show a slight increase both for wine imports and exports from Romania. In volumes, the import reached 123,000 tons and the export 34,400 tons.Compared to 2022, imports only increased by €30 million, from €238 million to €268 million. However, this is a significant increase compared to 2021, when Romania imported wine worth €189 million. In terms of price, in 2023, Romania imported wine at €2.17 per liter, 5% cheaper than in 2022, when the average value was €2.26 per liter, but more expensive than in 2021, when the price paid per liter was €1.59. The value of exports continued to increase slightly, rising from €69 million in 2021 to €71.6 million in 2022 and €72.5 million in 2023, the source points out. The price per liter for exported wine continued to evolve, from €1.82 per liter in 2021 to €1.97 per liter in 2022 and €2.09 per liter last year. However, the total volume exported has been falling steadily over the last three years - from 38,000 tons in 2021 to 36,300 tons in 2022 and 34,600 tons in 2023. "At first glance, there is not much difference in the Romanian wine market in terms of exports and imports over the last two years. However, a fairly clear trend can be seen - an increase in the average price per liter of exported wine, which remains somewhere between 5 and 7% per year, coupled with a decrease in exported volumes, more than 10% difference between 2021 and 2023. This means that more Romanian premium wine is reaching more people and that we are starting to have consumers on the international market returning to Romanian wines. In an optimistic scenario, I would say that we are witnessing the moment when consumers understand that Romania makes good wine. In any case, we are witnessing a consolidation of the position of Romanian premium wines, which will, I hope, serve as a foundation for future development," said Marinela Ardelean, founder of the Wines of Romania platform. On the other hand, according to her, the import figures are quite encouraging, especially in the medium-priced wine category, which means that Romania has a class of consumers who are still at the beginning of their journey, who are curious, experimenting, discovering new wines and regions. In 2023, Romania imported approximately 336 tons of Champagne sparkling wine (PDO) compared to about 3.300 tons of Prosecco (PDO), but the two categories of wine are of comparable value – 15.05 million euro for Champagne and 14.95 million euro for Prosecco. To these figures must be added more than 4.000 tons of sparkling wines without PDO or protected geographical indication (PGI), which means Romanians spent more than 40 million euro last year on ‘imported bubbles’.The level is similar to that of 2022, but significantly higher than in 2021, when Romania imported 278 tons of Champagne (worth 10.7 million euro) and 2,400 tons of Prosecco (8.6 million euro).From the point of view of the region of origin, wines bottled in containers of less than two liters with a protected designation of origin (PDO)came mainly from France, Hungary and Italy: Bordeaux, Tokaji, Veneto, Tuscany, Sicily, Valencia, Trentino, Alto Adige and Friuli, Rhone Valley, Burgundy.