Romania’s three main commercial partners when it comes to wine are the United Kingdom, China and Germany, and they account for 55% of its total exporters, according to the data on prowinechina.com, the website of one of the biggest international wine fairs in the world.
Romania made about 384 million liters of wine in 2014, while domestic consumption stood at some 408 million. This means the local market imported 34 million liters, while exporting a little more than 10 million liters, according to the same source.
“Romania’s wine production is mainly targeted for domestic consumption. In 2014 it produced 61% white wine and 39% red wine. 28% of the wine holds DOC and IGR labels, while 72% of them are table wines,” prowinechina.com reads.
Its exports go to ten countries, including UK, Germany, US, China and Canada.
Romania has about 180,000 hectares allocated grape growing grouped into 37 vineyards, only 28% of which already in business. The difference means new winemakers emerge every year. This much land allocated to vineyards puts Romania on the fifth place in Europe and 11th in the world, and the potential for business and EU funds that may finance up to 75% of an investment attract new investors, especially foreign ones.
“It’s clear that Romania is one of the oldest and strongest wine producing countries in Europe. The “low-profile” of Romanian wines in China is largely due to its special wine market and previous marketing strategies.”
Romania’s limited marketing activities for its wine products in China were mainly organized by wine producers themselves instead of by regional industry or official organizations, the same source says.
Romanian producers verify the information. Entrepreneur Mihai Anghel, owner of the Comcereal Dolj group and also one of the most important Romanian businessmen in the agribusiness sector went to Hong Kong to the International Wine & Spirits Fair to look for export partners for the Asian market. Besides the agribusiness operations, he also owns winemaker Domeniile Coroanei Segarcea, which posted about 24 million lei (EUR5.4 million) revenue last year.
“I came to this fair on my own even though it is the government’s duty to promote Romania as a winegrowing country and support winemakers. There are only two Romanian winemakers at the fair,” he said last week.
Only two Romanian companies attended the International Wine & Spirits Fair in Hong Kong last week, Senator Wine and Domeniile Coroanei Segarcea. The two were set to attend the ProWine fair afterwards.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)