U.S. slump drove nearly 60% of Italy’s wine export losses

The United States accounted for about six out of every 10 euros lost by Italian wine exporters in the first five months of 2026, according to trade data released Tuesday by Istat, Italy’s statistics agency, as sales to the country fell sharply in value and also declined in volume.

From January through May, Italy exported 709 million euros of wine to the American market, down 15.4% from the same period a year earlier. Shipments by volume fell 6% to 141.5 million liters. Based on those changes, Italy sold roughly 129.1 million euros less wine to the United States than it did in the same period of 2025, while shipping about 9 million fewer liters. That means the American market explained about 58.8% of the overall drop in the value of Italy’s wine exports worldwide, an approximation that underscores how heavily the broader decline was concentrated in one destination.

The global picture was negative but more stable than earlier in the year. Istat said Italy’s worldwide wine exports reached 2.98 billion euros in the first five months of 2026, down 6.86% from the same period in 2025. Exported volume totaled 809.1 million liters, a 5% decline. In value terms, that was close to the trend seen in April, suggesting that the downturn may be stabilizing. In volume terms, however, the performance worsened from the 3.7% decline recorded through April.

The American figures stand out not only because of their size, but also because of the gap between the drop in value and the smaller fall in volume. The implied average export value of Italian wine sold to the United States fell to about 5.01 euros a liter from roughly 5.57 euros a year earlier, a decline of close to 10%. That suggests exporters earned less per liter even before accounting for transport or other costs. The data do not show how much of that change came from lower prices, more promotions, shifts between premium and lower-priced categories, or changes in the mix of companies shipping to the market, but the result was a much steeper fall in revenue than in physical shipments.

That pattern was not repeated in the same way in Italy’s other large markets. Germany, still the second-largest foreign market for Italian wine, imported 439.1 million euros, down 8.2%, while volume fell 9.3% to 180 million liters. The implied average value per liter in Germany rose by about 1.2%, showing a modest improvement in unit revenue despite lower sales. In the United Kingdom, exports fell 6.5% in value to 278.5 million euros and 6.6% in volume to 88.5 million liters. The average value per liter there was essentially unchanged from a year earlier.

The contrast matters for producers because it points to different pressures in each market. In the United States, Italy lost both cases sold and revenue per case. In Germany, the decline was driven more by volume than by pricing. In Britain, value and volume moved almost in parallel. For an export sector that depends on a wide range of categories, from entry-level sparkling and still wines to premium appellations, the American market appears to have become less favorable on more than one front at the same time.

Outside the three main destinations, the results were mixed. Canada was flat at 159.5 million euros. Switzerland fell 12.7% to 143.8 million euros. France slipped 2.9% to 127.1 million euros. Japan was nearly unchanged, down 0.2% to 99.7 million euros. The Netherlands declined 6.6% to 97.9 million euros, Belgium dropped 12.6% to 79.2 million euros and Sweden fell 2.4% to 78.4 million euros. Russia posted a 17.4% increase to 71.9 million euros, though the source data suggest that pace has slowed from earlier months.

Several smaller markets continued to grow even as the major Western destinations weakened. China rose 18% to 34.1 million euros, Brazil increased 15.2% to 16.9 million euros and Russia remained one of the strongest positive outliers in value terms. Australia moved in the other direction, with Italian wine exports there down 16.9% to 23.4 million euros.

The year-to-date comparison is also shaped by the way orders were distributed last year. Industry observers have pointed to a rush of purchases at the beginning of 2025 as importers moved ahead of tariff measures, which lifted the base for comparison and made the 2026 numbers harder to interpret month by month. Even so, the data through May show that the weakness in the United States goes beyond a statistical effect from timing alone, because the decline now includes both fewer liters shipped and a clear deterioration in average export value.

For Italian wineries, that matters more than the global total by itself. The United States remains the country’s largest export market for wine, and a drop of this size can outweigh gains in several smaller destinations. Growth in China, Brazil and Russia helped, but it was not enough to offset the shortfall from North America and the declines in Europe’s largest markets.

The May figures therefore leave Italy’s wine exporters in a difficult position ahead of the second half of the year. The trade slowdown has persisted even after a partial recovery from a weak January, and many producers are moving toward the next harvest with high cellar inventories and less pricing support in their most important overseas market.