Sparkling Wine International Market Structure and Competitiveness

Karim Marini Thome,Vitoria A Leal Paiva

doi:10.36253/web-8433

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the Sparkling Wine international market structure and competitiveness, focusing on the 2004–2018 period. It used the data regarding exports and imports of sparkling wine available in the International Trade Centre’s Trade Map database. The method used to examine sparkling wine’s international market structure and competitiveness consisted of calculation of: (i) Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA); (ii) Relative Position in the Market (RPM); (iii) Hirschman-Herfindahl Index (HHI); and (iv) Net Export Index (NEI). The paper analyses the growth of the sparkling wine trade worldwide. It demonstrated that France had the greatest relative position in the market, followed by Italy and Spain. This same sequence was found in the revealed comparative advantage, highlighting the increased Italian export level. A high export market structure concentration was also shown. On the other hand, there was an unconcentrated import market structure, and, according to the NEI, it was possible to identify three groups composed of actors who were stable in terms of: i) exports based on domestic production (France, Italy and Spain); ii) trade, reflecting re-export (Singapore and the Netherlands); iii) imports, with strong domestic consumption (Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia, and Belgium).

Highlights

Sparkling wine, which is known as a celebratory beverage, and as a lifestyle symbol, has a strong symbolic function (Velikova et al, 2016)
This study identifies the major international players in the sparkling wine sector, verifying and describing their evolution in the annual growth transactions
In the results of the ten main importers, according to the data presented in Figure 1, it is possible to see that, all the countries were affected by the 2009 financial crisis, the total amount of sparkling wine imports increased over the period analysed

Summary

Introduction

Sparkling wine, which is known as a celebratory beverage, and as a lifestyle symbol, has a strong symbolic function (Velikova et al, 2016). The most famous, prestigious, expensive, and highest ranked sparkling wines come from Champagne (Epstein, 2011; Rokka, 2017). Cava, crémant, and prosecco are familiar terms used to describe the different sparkling wines from outside the Champagne region, and these are becoming better known in the world. Their consumption has been trending upwards due to the strong influence of Western culture, Karim Marini Thome, Vitoria A. Leal Paiva reflecting luxury fads (Epstein, 2011), the trend toward indulgence, and to differentiate the chosen wine in order to enhance the experience (Hannin et al, 2010; Mariani, Pomarici and Boatto, 2012)

Objectives

Results

Conclusion