How to find foreign importers, for free. The public lists, country by country, and how to read them.
You don’t have to buy a list of importers. In the United States, the UK and Canada it is published by the bodies that issue permits and licences, free and updated every week: the work is in reading it well.
United States: the TTB publishes the 21,366 holders of the federal alcohol import permit, in a downloadable file. Anyone importing wine into the US must have one.
UK and Canada: the British companies register can be filtered by business activity code, and the Canadian food safety agency publishes every holder of the licence needed to import food.
European Union: the Enterprise Europe Network publishes free profiles of companies looking for and offering products, and yours goes up through your Chamber of Commerce.
They are public sources, so everyone reads them: the advantage is not having them, it is filtering them better than others do and writing something specific to each importer. How to reply when one of them writes first is on the page about replying to an email from a foreign importer.
United States: the federal list of alcohol importers
The TTB, the federal bureau that regulates alcohol and tobacco, publishes the list of everyone with a permit to import alcoholic beverages: 21,366 permit holders as of 5 October 2026. The file can be downloaded as a CSV from the List of Permittees page and shows company name, trade name, address and state. The bureau updates it every week.
| What is in the file | What you do with it |
|---|---|
| Company name and trade name | The name the importer goes by, to search for their website and catalogue |
| Address, city, state | The filter by state: in the United States wine passes from importer to distributor to retailer, and every state has its own rules |
| Permit number | Proof that the company really can import, useful for ruling out anyone who calls themselves an importer without being one |
The file also includes beer and spirits importers: you can tell them apart by their catalogue. The filter that matters is the portfolio, meaning which Italian wines they already carry and from which regions: an importer with no Italian wines rarely starts with you, and one with three from your area may not be looking for a fourth.
United Kingdom: the companies register by business activity code
Companies House, the British companies register, can be searched for free by business activity code: 7,164 active companies under code 46342, the wholesale of wine and spirits. For olive oil the code is 46330, which covers edible oils and fats along with dairy products and eggs: 2,017 active companies. Results can be downloaded as a CSV, up to 5,000 rows, from the advanced search.
They are wholesalers, not just importers: many buy from other British importers. You read each one’s website and keep those that say they import, ideally with an Italian range. What you need to ship to the UK after Brexit is on the page about exporting food to the UK.
Canada: the food licence registry
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency publishes the 19,587 holders of the Safe Food for Canadians licence, in a CSV updated on 8 October 2026. Anyone importing food into Canada must hold that licence, so the importers are in there. The registry, however, lists every licence holder, producers included, and has no column saying who imports.
You filter by name, by province and by reading the websites: «import», «distribution», «fine foods» in the name are a good start, not proof. What a Canadian importer needs in order to buy from you is on the page about exporting food to Canada.
European Union: the profiles on the Enterprise Europe Network
The Enterprise Europe Network, run by the European Commission, publishes free profiles of companies looking for business partners: those offering products and those looking for them. Searching «wine» in the partnering opportunities already brings up Italian wineries offering themselves to importers and distributors, and a few requests from buyers.
Your company’s profile is published through your local EEN contact point, which in Italy sits within the Chambers of Commerce and their special agencies, at no cost. Offers far outnumber requests, so the profile helps you get found; it does not replace active searching.
From the list to a reply
A list of thousands of names becomes twenty good contacts only with three filters: portfolio, channel and size. Portfolio tells you whether an importer already carries products like yours; channel whether they sell to restaurants, wine shops or supermarkets; size whether your volume interests them.
- Download the country’s list and keep only the rows for the area you are interested in.
- Open each one’s website and note three things in a spreadsheet: Italian products in their range, channel, and a person or inbox to write to.
- Write to a few, and well: an email that says why them in particular, with the specification sheet and the terms ready.
The specification sheet in English and the price list under the five Incoterms are what an importer asks for in the second email: having them ready shortens the negotiation. They are in the library of export templates.
Every country has its own rules on commercial email. In Canada, for example, you can write without consent only to an address the company publishes itself, and about a subject related to its business. Everywhere, the email says who you are and how to stop receiving more, and anyone who asks not to be contacted again comes off the list.
Downloading, filtering and reading a hundred websites is a day’s work per market. We produce contacts based on your business’s requirements: the product, the channel, the size you need, plus the public signals that show who is ready now. And we do it fast. On 4 September 2026, from five public exhibitor lists, one of our systems read 428 names, found and confirmed 64 websites and wrote 10 emails, each containing a fact verified on that particular company’s website: twenty minutes in all. An email that talks about the person receiving it is what gets a reply. This is the area Itria calls new demand generation: in fifteen minutes we can see whether it makes sense for your markets, starting here.
How do you find wine importers abroad for free?
From public sources: in the United States the TTB publishes the list of alcohol import permit holders, in the UK Companies House can be filtered by business activity code 46342, and in the European Union the Enterprise Europe Network publishes profiles of companies looking for products.
Then you filter by portfolio, channel and size, reading each one’s website.
Is there a free list of wine importers in the United States?
Yes. The TTB publishes a CSV of federal alcohol import permit holders, updated every week: 21,366 permit holders as of 5 October 2026.
It also includes beer and spirits importers, which you can tell apart by their catalogue.
How do you find olive oil importers in the UK?
With the Companies House advanced search for business activity code 46330, which covers the wholesale of edible oils and fats: 2,017 active companies on 8 October 2026.
They are wholesalers, not just importers: you keep the ones that say they import.
Are paid importer databases worth it?
They can save time on filtering, but in many countries the starting names are public and free.
Before paying, it is worth downloading the country’s public list and seeing how many useful names come out of it.
How do you write to your first importer?
To a few, and well: an email that says why them in particular, with the specification sheet in English and the terms ready.
Importers ask for those documents in the second email: having them ready shortens the negotiation.
Notes on sources
- TTB, List of Permittees, file «Alcohol Importer Permit List»: 21,366 rows, data as of 5 October 2026, downloaded and read on 8 October.
- Companies House, advanced search by SIC code and active status: 7,164 results for 46342 and 2,017 for 46330, read on 8 October 2026.
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Safe Food for Canadians Licence Registry: 19,587 licence holders, CSV updated on 8 October 2026.
- Enterprise Europe Network, partnering opportunities: search for «wine» run on 8 October 2026.
- The counts change every week: the ones on this page are from the day they were read. None of the sources says who buys Italian wine or olive oil: each importer’s catalogue does, read by hand.
The list is free. The time to read it isn’t.
From 428 names to 10 emails written one by one, in twenty minutes: that is the work left after the list, and it repeats for every market. At Itria we build tailored systems for SMEs that export: a system does the first pass over the lists, a person makes the choice and writes the email. Drop us a line: in fifteen minutes we can see whether it would make sense for your markets.