Within the presentation of the VI Foro Internacional Vitivinícola (6th International Wine Forum), members of the organizing committee anticipated the most important issues to address. The market saturation is the most worrying issue for the wine industry.The official presentation of the 6th International Wine Forum was performed in the Diplomatic Hotel, Mendoza. This event will be carried out at Ángel Bustelo Auditorium. Members of the organizing committee held a press conference: Ángel Vespa, president of Bodegas de Argentina, Juan Carlos Pina, manager of the same company, and Luis Steindl, operations manager at Norton. Javier Merino, director at Área del Vino (the event operating company), was also present.
The selection of issues
The event will gather 9 specialists that will speak about different subjects related to the wine industry. The selection of issues and speakers entails a thorough search every year. In this sense, Javier Merino, explained that after analyzing the topics that the world is speaking about, the Forum includes five main issues: important markets such as Australia and Europe, the Argentinian market, the sector`s strategies and competitiveness, Internet revolution and sustainability.
Ángel Vespa pointed out that this time the forum aims to analyze the way Europe, Australia and other important markets are reacting, and to know the new marketing tools -such as social networks- used to develop markets all over the world. “Sustainability will be another issue since it is necessary to adapt to foreign consumers’ demands.”
A vital Forum for the industry
The members of the committee agree that part of the Forum’s importance is the image created in the consumers’ mind. Juan Carlos Pina highlighted: “this is a very important event for the country’s image.” Besides, Luis Steindl added that the fact that some speakers travel from their countries to attend this event also shows how important the forum is.”
As regards the benefits that the forum offers to the local industry, Ángel Vespa considered that “it helps us to get ready for the challenges that the international market poses. Argentina should always anticipate the coming changes and should be dynamic enough to respond to the actions performed by the market and the competence.”
Industry’s main worries
Javier Merino, director at Área del Vino, spoke about the market saturation. “The excess offer is not mainly due to the incorporation of new competitors, but to the strong drop in demand all over the world. This is resulting in the eradication of vineyards in Europe, among other similar measures. This market saturation is not the same for all varietals, for instance, some markets abound in varietals and some others lack them.”
Moreover, Vespa spoke about emerging markets such as China and India. “We should start joining efforts to introduce wine consumption in these destinations. There are other countries that abound with resources to fulfill this goal. We should be smart enough to join in this process with our available resources.”
Written by Mariano Zalazar for Winesur.com
Translation: Ana Tagua
Source: http://www.winesur.com/news/%E2%80%9Cit-is-necessary-to-adapt-to-foreign-consumers%E2%80%99-demands%E2%80%9D
The details of this event are at: http://www.mendozaeventos.com/inicio/icalrepeat.detail/2010/09/02/4224/-/vi-foro-internacional-vitivinicola-en-el-auditorio-angel-bustelo-6th-international-winemaking-forum-at-the-auditorio-angel-bustelo
