The competitiveness of the Portuguese wine sector and a case study of exports and activity diversification in the Vinhos Verdes region

The world wine market is currently characterised by two principal wine suppliers: theEuropean and the New World. Countries such as France, Italy, Spain and Portugal have witnessed atremendous growth in the New World wine- makers (Australia, Chile, South Africa, etc.). As competitioncontinues to intensify, wineries are searching for new channels to increase revenues and many vintnerschose to develop other activities. Portugal is one of the European countries that present several naturaland technical constraints which might be now resulting in modest performance regarding its positionin the global wine market, competitiveness and dynamism required to overcome difficulties. The mainobjective of the study is to provide information to vintners concerning the current situation of the wineindustry and possibly to present "holes" in the market which overall might be explored as new businessopportunities. To that end, the research will attempt to measure the competitiveness of the Portuguesewine industry and its behaviour during a time period considered. This will be based on indices such asthe trade intensity index, revealed comparative advantage, auto- sufficiency and market share ratios.This paper will also try to analyse empirically the specific case of exports and activity diversification inthe Vinhos Verdes region.