The French Ministry of Agriculture this week unveiled a rescue package for the country’s ailing wine sector that will include a €130 million ($231 million AUD) funding package to support vineyard removal.
It comes comes after grape growers protested in the streets of the southern city of Beziers calling for urgent government and EU support as the sector struggles with a combination of extreme weather conditions, soaring costs and falling sales, news hub the drinks business reported.
The goal of the new support package is to "stabilise the wine market and support long-term solutions".
A ministry statement said: “The government is allocating €130 to fund a new, permanent vine-pulling plan requested by the wine industry in order to rebalance the supply and restore the viability of struggling farms in the most vulnerable regions".
Minister of agriculture, agri-food and food sovereignty of France, Annie Genevard, announced the package to sector stakeholders at a major trade fair, SITEVI, in Montpellier. It also includes a loan component.
French officials have lowered projection for this year’s wine output to 36 million hectolitres, down from the 37.4 million forecast last month and 1% below last year’s harvest, citing a heatwave in August.
The revised forecast, based on the latest harvest results, was 16% below the five-year average.
Genevard has also urged the European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen to “mobilise the European crisis reserve, particularly to finance the crisis distillation of non-marketable surpluses, primarily in co-operative cellars.”
In the statement, Genevard added: “This new very significant financial effort, despite a particularly difficult budgetary context and subject to the adoption of a finance bill, demonstrates the Government’s determination to sustainably save our viticulture and enable it to bounce back."
She insisted it was not “yet another emergency plan to correct a structural imbalance,” but “an investment to give a future” to the wine industry.
The wine and spirits sector supports 600,000 jobs in France, and accounts for €32 billion in turnover, half of which is exports.
The Béziers demonstration on November 15, organised by the Aude winegrowers union, highlighted the plight of French winegrowers.
Damien Onorre, president of the union, told Le Monde newspaper: “For three years, we have suffered droughts and heat waves above 40°C. I have lost 50% of my production over this period.”
The revised forecast, based on the latest harvest results, was 16% below the five-year average.
Genevard has also urged the European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen to “mobilise the European crisis reserve, particularly to finance the crisis distillation of non-marketable surpluses, primarily in co-operative cellars.”
In the statement, Genevard added: “This new very significant financial effort, despite a particularly difficult budgetary context and subject to the adoption of a finance bill, demonstrates the Government’s determination to sustainably save our viticulture and enable it to bounce back."
She insisted it was not “yet another emergency plan to correct a structural imbalance,” but “an investment to give a future” to the wine industry.
The wine and spirits sector supports 600,000 jobs in France, and accounts for €32 billion in turnover, half of which is exports.
The Béziers demonstration on November 15, organised by the Aude winegrowers union, highlighted the plight of French winegrowers.
Damien Onorre, president of the union, told Le Monde newspaper: “For three years, we have suffered droughts and heat waves above 40°C. I have lost 50% of my production over this period.”
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