by Dr. Hermann Pilz and Richard Grosche
The final figures on total imports for the period from October 2005 to September 2006 have just been released by Germany s Federal Statistical Office. While Italy increased its exports to Germany by 13.3 percent in volume, value was up barely 2.2 percent.
France, on the other hand, gained only 3.8 percent in volume, but 12.1 percent in value. Germany imported 6.1 million hectolitres of Italian wine at an average price of 104 Euro per hectolitre. France sold significantly less to its eastern neighbour, but at a much higher price, with a total of 2.3 million hectolitres fetching an average of 245 Euro per hectolitre. All in all, German wine imports came to a total of 5.2 million hectolitres of white (+0.6 percent in value, +8.6 percent in volume) and 6.4 million hectolitres red wine (-0.1 percent in value, -2.5 percent in volume). The average price per hectolitre was only 84 Euro for white, but 149 Euro for red wine. Analysts comment that the low figure for white wine reflects the large amount of bulk production being imported for the domestic sparkling wine industry.
