DUTIES: BOTTEGA (PROSECCO), 'THEY CAN LEAD TO -70% SALES IN THE USA, RISK OF TOTAL LISTING LOSS'

"The first effects of the duties are already being felt and now that the Vinitaly meetings are over, our American importers have already started calculating the effects and the proposals for intervention by the producers. The effects are up to -70% of sales in the USA, which seems unlikely to us, but it is the threat, in some cases there is even a risk of losing the listings altogether. The minimum contribution requested immediately is already over €500,000 and obviously it has already been rejected, but it will not be easy to avoid a heavy measure", declared Sandro Bottega, owner of the Veneto wine company of the same name, one of the world leaders in the export of Prosecco. "Politics must intervene urgently but above all it is necessary to go further and think that we cannot tie and make our companies dependent on the United States: we must invest in the internal market, understood as Europe, which must be more united than ever, and in Asia which, if it does not enter into crisis, could be the most important way to find new outlets and new consumers", concluded Sandro Bottega.