“The Easter period is a season peak for any wine producer, beside Christmas and the winter holidays. While this period’s impact is somewhat lower against that of December, we expect sales to rise by around 10%-15% against the corresponding period of 2013. Wine sales go up by 35%-40% on average during Easter holidays compared with a normal month,” says Dan Muntean, general manager of Halewood Romania.
One in three bottles of wine currently sold in Romania is a red wine one. Also, dry and semi dry wines have increased their weight against semi-sweet wines, according to Halewood data. The trend is as a matter of fact specific of the entire Europe.
Jidvei representatives are somewhat more cautious in predictions, seeing an increase of just several percentage points spurred by promotions, thematic packages, reductions and association with other products.
“We expect a slight increase, of around 4%, against the Easter of 2013,” said Costin Ghita, national manager of Jidvei.
The sales increase would come as consumption contracted in the first quarter of this year, with prices still playing a major role in the buying decision.
“Well-known brands have a higher growth potential than the newly-launched ones,” added Ghita, also forecasting wine sales will stall at the level of the entire year.
Daniel Negrescu, brand manager of Murfatlar Romania, is the most cautious manager in the wine industry. He expects Easter sales and 2014 sales to remain flat.
However, Murfatlar manager believes the market will have a different evolution along segments. The best results will come on the premium segment, which he expects to rise by between 10% and 15%. Nevertheless, given the low weight of expensive wines, the advance will not be enough to “lift” the entire market.
Wine sales are put at around EUR350 million, with the largest players including Cotnari, Vincon, Tohani, beside Murfatlar, Jidvei and Halewood.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)