Italy sends 44 of every 100 liters of its wine abroad in 2025

Data published by Italy’s national statistics agency Istat show that the country is producing slightly less wine than it did in 2006 while sending more of it abroad, a shift that points to a stronger export dependence in one of Italy’s most important farm industries.

The figures, released by Istat on Sept. 4 in a broader report on agricultural and livestock production through 2025 and highlighted Wednesday by WineNews, compare the structure of the sector over a 19-year period rather than offer a new short-term market update. Over that span, Italian wine production fell from 49.6 million hectoliters in 2006 to 47.8 million hectoliters in 2025, a decline of 1.8 million hectoliters, or 3.6%.

Exports moved in the opposite direction. Italy shipped 21.0 million hectoliters of wine in 2025, up from 18.8 million hectoliters in 2006, an increase of 2.2 million hectoliters, or about 11.7%. As a result, the share of production exported rose from 39.9 liters for every 100 liters produced in 2006 to 44 liters for every 100 liters produced in 2025.

The export gain came even as the land used for wine grapes narrowed. Istat said vineyard area for wine grapes fell to 694,333 hectares in 2025 from 713,673 hectares in 2006, a reduction of 19,340 hectares, or 2.7%. Yields edged up only slightly, from 95.6 quintals per hectare to 96.2 quintals per hectare, suggesting that the sector preserved most of its output through limited productivity gains rather than expansion of planted area.

That relative stability sets wine apart from several other parts of Italian agriculture that saw steeper declines during the same period. Istat’s long-run review found sharp drops in output for corn, wheat, pears, peaches, nectarines and olive oil, while wine posted what the agency described as a contained contraction. The report also said wine grapes held up much better than table grapes. Overall grape production fell 8.0% from 2006 to 2025, but production of grapes for wine slipped only 2.1%, while table grape production dropped by about 35%.

The data also show that Italy’s domestic wine market still relies mainly on home production, even as the export channel takes a larger share. In 2025, wine not exported totaled 26.7 million hectoliters, down from 28.3 million hectoliters in 2006. Wine imports, while rising, remained much smaller than domestic production. Italy imported 2.4 million hectoliters in 2025, up from 1.5 million hectoliters in 2006.

Istat’s broader report places those wine figures inside a wider reshaping of Italian agriculture. The agency said the country has 8.7% of the European Union’s utilized agricultural area, ranking fifth after France, Spain, Germany and Poland. Even with that share, Italy remains a major producer in several categories, accounting for 33.2% of EU grape production, 52.8% of rice, 43.2% of durum wheat, 42.1% of open-field tomatoes, 37.9% of soybeans and 75.2% of hazelnuts.

For wine, the regional geography of grape production remains uneven. According to the figures cited by WineNews from the Istat report, the Northeast accounted for 41.2% of Italy’s grape output in 2025, followed by the South at 29.1%, the Center at 13.1%, the Islands at 9.3% and the Northwest at 7.3%. Over the 2006-2025 period, grape production increased in the Northeast by 25.7% and in the South by 1.7%, while it declined in the Northwest, Center and Islands, with the steepest drop in the Islands at 41.1%.

The contrast with olive oil is sharper. Istat reported that Italian olive oil production fell from 603.3 million liters in 2006 to 378.6 million liters in 2025, a drop of 37.6%, far worse than the decline recorded for wine. In 2025, only 81 million liters of domestic olive oil production were left for the Italian market, while 298 million liters were exported and 565 million liters were imported to meet internal demand. The agency linked the weakness in olive production to climate pressures, plant stress, pests, disease and structural problems in the sector.

In field crops, Istat recorded a 42.7% fall in corn production from 2006 to 2025 and a 51.2% drop in corn acreage, with yields rising 17.4%. Durum wheat production declined 9.3%, and soft wheat production fell 21.4%. At the same time, imports grew enough to overtake domestic supply in some categories. Wheat imports reached 97 million quintals in 2025 versus domestic production of about 59.5 million quintals, while corn imports climbed to 70 million quintals against national production of just under 55 million quintals.

Fruit growing also weakened in much of the country. Pear production dropped 60.6% between 2006 and 2025, nectarines 43.5%, peaches 40.7%, hazelnuts 30.3% and oranges 23.7%. Only a few fruit sectors, including clementines, kiwis and apples, posted growth. Those patterns matter for wine because they show how unusual the sector’s relative resilience has been inside a farm economy that has otherwise gone through stronger contractions and restructuring.

Istat’s wine numbers do not address export value, inflation or average selling prices, so they do not show whether producers earned more or less per liter over the period. The figures measure physical changes in vineyard area, yields, production and traded volumes. On that basis, the direction is clear: Italy entered 2025 with less land devoted to wine grapes and slightly lower wine output than in 2006, but with a larger share of its production moving to foreign markets.