Why your favourite prosecco may be getting harder to find
The wine, beer and cheese that Anthony D’Anna imports from Italy gets sold everywhere from his family’s store in suburban Melbourne to Bondi Beach’s famous Icebergs and Rockpool Bar & Grill in Perth.
But he’s slashed by a quarter the number of containers he orders for Boccaccio Cellars, as high shipping costs and the plunging value of the Australian dollar make every bottle of prosecco and chunk of prosciutto he buys overseas more expensive.
“There’s no point importing a product if it’s not price-competitive,” Mr D’Anna told AFR Weekend.
Boccaccio Cellars chief executive Anthony D’Anna has been forced to reduce imports from Italy while the Australian dollar is weak against the Euro, but AMP chief economist Shane Oliver says the situation could get worse before it gets better. Luis Enrique Ascui
Lower-to-medium-end products, imported in bulk with higher transport costs, are hit hardest. For example, since COVID-19 it is costing him an extra $4 or so per bottle to import the 80,000 bottles per year of prosecco that sells for about $25 per bottle.
It’s less of a problem at the high end. Wine from Gianfranco Soldera in Tuscany, which retails here for $1200 a bottle, would be lapped up at triple that price, he says.
“When the dollar slips below €0.60, it makes life really difficult, and we have to pause or limit how much we import, and we can’t ramp it up again until it returns, with €0.65 being the sweet spot in terms of costing.”
The Australian dollar has been in the “danger zone” at about €0.60 – or it takes $1.66 to buy one euro – since August. Boccaccio has cut back his container shipments from Italy by 25 per cent. In August last year, Australians could buy one euro for $1.43.
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver says the
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