THE WORLD BULK WINE EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS IN THE FIRST EDITION
Around 1,700 professionals in the wine sector - among buyers, sellers, businessmen, authorities and the media - met in the World Bulk Wine Exhibition in the RAI Elicium of Amsterdam, the first international meeting created for bulk wine professionals.
The Exhibition has been attended by 70 companies, 56 of them from Spain, 6 from Italy, 5 from France, 2 from Chile and one from Argentina. The Autonomous Community of Castilla-La Mancha provided the Exhibition with a large and well-nourished representation of 42 companies, among wineries and cooperatives. 397 buyers were counted, but as far as the organisation knows at least other 50 buyers attended the event for personal purposes.
The Regional Agriculture Minister of Castilla-La Mancha, José Luis Martínez Guijarro, who chairs an important delegation in the region with the largest bulk wine production in the world, highlighted his bet for the Meeting as “a way of supporting wine sales of regional wineries and cooperatives".
In this sense, he pointed out that the World Bulk Wine Exhibition may be a milestone in the sector, as many experts have predicted. In fact, many countries, such as Switzerland, are beginning to classify bulk wine by its quality. This fact will force the great quality level of wine to be improved, “which is already very good in Castilla La Mancha”, as the Regional Minister stated.
The director of the Meeting, Otilia Romero de Condés, has highlighted the work which has been done in order to create such an event and she encouraged the attending wineries to make the most of it. “The World Bulk Wine Exhibition has been created and conceived as the perfect platform to boost the business of bulk wine. Now, it is wineries’ turn to make the most of this opportunity to convince with their wines buyers from all over the world who are coming and visiting us these days.”
Castilla-La Mancha plays a fundamental role in the World Bulk Wine Exhibition. This wine region, with the largest offer of bulk wine in the world (around 14 millions hectolitres a year), is the Guest Region this year and this is the reason why it holds a distinguished position in the Meeting. 41 companies from Castilla-La Mancha take part of this Meeting, 21 of them come from the province of Albacete, 12 from Ciudad Real, 7 from Cuenca and 2 of them from Toledo. In addition to these companies, 6 from Valencia, 2 from Navarra, 2 from Extremadura and 2 from Murcia have also been present in the Netherlands.
Therefore, the international category of this Meeting is not only determined by buyers and visitants, but also by foreign wineries. Representation from abroad was headed by 6 companies from Italy, the great world competitor for Spain regarding the Bulk Wine sector. Five companies were from France −where a paradox may be observed, since there exist companies both selling and buying bulk wine−, two companies from Chile and one from Argentina, but with interests in Chile, Brasil and Uruguay, the countries with more strength in bulk wine selling in the New World.
The World Bulk Wine Exhibition is a Meeting fundamentally addressed to businesses and to increase commercial transactions, but without leaving aside the importance of debate and intelligent discussion about the needs and challenges in this sector. In this sense, it has been completed as "Bulk and its market. A commitment for the future".
The main objective of this Meeting, which is being hold for the first time in Amsterdam and which has arisen a great interest over the world, consists of increasing transactions in a bulk wine trade more and more open, competitive and transparent. Bulk wine constitutes the category moving the greatest turnovers in the world and, in the case of Spain, bulk wine generated more than 300 million Euros in 2008 concerning foreign sales.
The World Bulk Wine Exhibition 2010 Edition will take place on 22nd and 23rd November in Amsterdam.
