Tirana hosts second Balkan Wine Expo

TIRANA, Feb. 28 – More than 100 wine producers from Italy and the Balkans are displaying their wines in Tirana at the second Balkan Wine Expo. Workshops aimed at providing new business opportunities to Italian companies and Balkan targeting the South East Europe market will be held during the two-day exhibition at the Sheraton Tirana Hotel. The Balkan Wine Expo, the only trade fair dedicated to wine and addressed to the professional market (importers, distributors, Horeca, wine shops, organized distribution, opinion leaders, media) in the Balkans is bringing together wine producers from Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia.
In the Balkans the cultivation and wine production is highly fragmented, there are many small farmers who sell their grapes to wine producers, organizers said. The overall quality is low-level because of the different grapes coming from different vineyards, while there is a growing demand for good wine quality: that’s why there is a strong focus on Italian production in the first place.
The performance of the wine market in Albania in 2010 recorded in terms of value of wine imported, lek 6.6 billion, with an increase of 16% compared to the year 2009. In Albania, Italy has the highest proportion of imports (with 77%), followed by France, Montenegro (respectively 6%), Macedonia, Spain (with 4%), Greece (2%).
The wine exported from Albania to the Balkan countries is oriented mainly towards Kosovo, Macedonia and Bosnia.
The Albanian government is investing to bridge the technological gap existing, encouraging farmers to plant new vineyards with $ 5,000 per ha, this will become the new frontier of the wine market, in itself, and also to open up to the immense Russian basin, reducing costs of customs charges through Serbia.