Most of Romania’s wine imports come from Moldova and Italy, with similar shares, followed by France, Spain and Germany. Moldova provides more bottled wine, while Italy more bulk wine, Economedia.ro found in an analysis.
Every year, Romania imports over 6 liters of wine per adult, despite being the sixth largest European wine producer and consistently making the top 15 worldwide. However, it exports somewhere under 10% of its total own production and mostly elite wines, despite the fact that foreign partners and distributors are mainly looking for low-priced ones.
The study finds that the poor performance of Romanian wine exports is due to a lack of interest in exporting among Romanian wineries and insufficient support from the government. The situation is compared to the Republic of Moldova, which has a wine country brand, Wine of Moldova, which is dedicated to supporting producers.
Also, according to specialists, the comfort of Romanian wine producers, meaning the possibility to sell expensively in Romania, will continue to restrict the domestic market, given that more and more foreign producers will want a share of that market.
Recently, a wine group from Moldova expanded its presence on the Romanian market, making a strategic acquisition of assets. The deal includes approximately 51 hectares of vineyards, construction land and several agricultural equipment in the village of Ceptura de Jos.
