Rome, March 12 : Italy's wine exports hit a record 7.1 billion euros ($7.8 billion) last year, more than compensating for lower export totals in 2020 due to the worst period of the coronavirus pandemic, official data revealed. According to an analysis by the Qualivita Foundation of data from Italy's National Statistics Institute (ISTAT), wine exports grew by 12.4 per cent in 2021 compared to the previous year. This was compared to a 2.2 per cent year-on-year decrease in 2020, reports Xinhua news agency. The Qualivita Foundation said that exports to North America grew by 16.7 per cent, while those to Asia surged by 22.5 per cent between 2020 and 2021. The US remained the largest export market for Italian wines, followed by Germany and the UK. However, the news of booming exports of Italian wine in 2021 was tempered by a report from consultancy Nomisma published on the same day, which predicts that in 2022 exports could suffer from the crisis in Ukraine. Nomisma said that wine exports to Russia and Ukraine together account for annual sales of around 400 million euros, or around 6 per cent of total exports. /IANS