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OIV

Who else should launch the content of „And on the other side that enterprises show
this book than the CEO of this global orga- capability to adapt and to be resilient. For this
nization? purpose, diversification (in terms of products,

Although we can‘t travel, he gave us at markets, distribution channels, etc.) will play an
least distant answers to our questions, a vir- important role.“
tual interview.
Should be the digitalisation the solution?
Please, share with us your vision of the „In all this I am also convinced that digitalisa-
future of the wine in on-trade and off -trade tion will be one of the keys of success. Digitali-
market. Do you expect quick resurrecti- sation is an acceleration factor acting in our so-
on and restoration or, more likely, calls for ciety. We can see it as a catalyst that make things
grubbing-up of vineyards and distillation of happen much faster than expected.“
unsaleable wine? I understand that these are „We have all seen how e-commerce revea-
extremes, and the real solution will be so- led to be an extraordinary alternative to more
mewhere in the way between them. traditional distribution channels. This will be
„The situation differs from country to count- the key for the future of wine sales, its develo-

ry depending on factors like the length of loc- pment has been boosted by the pandemic and
kdown measures, the consumption habits of the sector is well placed to keep growing via this
the population, the elasticity of substitution be- channel.“
tween wine and other beverages, the relevance „To give you some figures - that we have gathe-

of the HoReCa channel, or the development le- red from IWSR drinks’ market analysis.“
vel of the e-commerce channel. Overall we can „If we look at the world’s major economies,
see that Covid19 has generated a recession that e-commerce wine sales growth in value is pro-
is indeed having direct and indirect eff ects on jected to rise by about 48%. This is 3 times the
the sector. Not all such impacts will be perma- growth observed in 2019 as compared to 2018.
nent, but some will last, and the sector needs to This increase is even more surprising when wine
anticipate this.“ consumption is expected to drop by about 9% in
„Regarding distillation, the increase in stocks 2020 in all key global wine markets.“
is quite predictable. There will probably be over- „But this is just an example of the opportuni-
production if we take into account the likely dec- ties coming from the digitalisation of the sector.“
rease in consumption in certain countries.“ „And that is the reason why the OIV is cur-
„If we look at data from customs and we com- rently about to implement its digital trans-
pare the first semester of 2020 with the same pe- formation strategy which consists of, among

riod in 2019 we can clearly see a drop in interna- other projects, the creation of an observato-
tional trade of wine (-6.7% vol., -12.4% val.) after ry-hub that will study and analyse the recent
many years of stable and consistent growth.“ evolution of digitalisation applied to wine
„It will be crucial for the future of the sector to sector and what we call a digital garage whe-

focus all our efforts on the full recovery of inter- re different digital initiatives and prototypes
national markets. In front of the risk of a global can be tested. In addition, the OIV Secretariat
economic recession, without direct actions in this will develop a data & analytics lab that will
direction the whole industry will be under threat.“ become an international centre for sectorial
„This requires on one side that governments data collection and analysis. It is a very actual

first recognise the relevance of the sector and its question.“
nature of essential economic activity and then
need to put in place measures that concretely Merci beaucoup,
support the sector.“ Monsieur le Directeur Général! ƅ
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