Bulk Prosecco prices ‘to double’ by xmas

Bulk Prosecco prices could double by the end of the year as producers compete to supply a growing demand for the Italian fizz.

Bulk Prosecco prices are on course to hit €2.50 per litre by Christmas

Bulk Prosecco prices are on course to hit €2.50 per litre by Christmas, a rise of more than 100% on the start of 2015, when prices hovered around €1.20 per litre, according to Paolo Lasagni, managing director of Bosco Viticultori, a major supplier of private-label Prosecco.

As a result of rising prices and limited supply, Lasagni told the drinks business, “If people haven’t secured their supply yet for the New Year, then they are in trouble.”

Speaking to db earlier this month in Shanghai at ProWine China, Lasagni said that the bulk price of Prosecco was already “well above €2 per litre and it is not even Christmas time.”

Explaining the sustained rise in demand for the Italian fizz he remarked, “The American market is growing a lot,” although he said that he thought that “the German market will decrease because of rising prices.”

As for the UK, he expressed surprise that Prosecco sales were still on the up because there had already been price increases in retailers.

“A couple of months ago prices went up and sales haven’t slowed, for example, Asda Yellow Label Prosecco went up from £5.49 to £5.99 and it’s still selling like crazy,” he recorded.

Meanwhile, Aldi have put up the price of its Prosecco from £5.29 to £5.49, and “it is almost out of stock”, said Lasagni.

“I will be curious to see what happens in the UK next year when there are new shelf price increases – entry level Prosecco next year will cost between £5.99 and £6.49,” he forecast.

Meanwhile, he lamented the fact that so few of the major Prosecco labels were owned by the producers.

“The main weakness of Prosecco is that the brands don’t belong to the producers, but the customers,” he commented, echoing the views of Silvia Franco, international sales manager of Nino Franco, which is based in Valdobbiadene – the heart of the Prosecco DOCG.

Commenting specifically on the UK, Silvia told db last year that the market was becoming “more and more difficult because there is so much competition, and that is from brands or private labels we have never seen in Italy”.

Concluding, Lasagni stated, “The problem is that the Italian producers are not big enough to invest in brand development.”