WINE: DECREASED QUANTITY IN EUROPE. REFORMS EXPECTED. PRODUCTION IN ITALY FALLS SLIGHTLY BUT CONSUMPTION INCREASES

There will be less wine produced in European wineries this year, at least according to the 2005-2006 forecasts by sector experts of the 25 member states united under the European Union’s Management Committee for Wine. The reduction in Italy is around 4%. 2006, however, will be an important year for the organization of the European market because - explain commission sources to ANSA – “between July and September, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Rischer Boel, will present an outline of the reform, and by the end of the year the concrete proposal”. For the 2005-2006 viticulture season, the European Union assessed a total amount of 172.9 hectoliters of wine produced by the 25 member countries, which signifies an 11.9% decrease in European production in respect to the previous year. However, if the predicted volume is compared to the actual total production in the previous five-year period, the decrease is reduced to 3%. Among the largest European wine producing countries, the hardest hit was Spain (-21%), then Germany (-10%), and France (-9%). A decrease was registered this year – based on the preceding year’s results – even for the production forecasts for Italy, but at a much less significant rate of 4%.
Comparing this data with the volumes produced by Italian producers over the preceding five years however, an overall increase of about 3% has been registered.
Another interesting novelty for Italy is what appears to be a net increase in wine consumption after the drop that was registered for the 2003-2004 viticulture campaign.
On the European front updates arrive from new partners in the East and South: the largest producer Hungary (with 3.1 million hectoliters) registered a 41% decrease in production for the 2004-2005 campaign. Production in Cyprus fell by half, while a net increase was registered in Slovenia (+21%) and the Czech Republic (+6%).
Below are the European wine production forecasts for the 2005-2006 season published by the European Commission for Wine (the numbers are in millions of hectoliters, and the variation is compared to the 2004-2005 campaign):
COUNTRY- PRODUCTION 2005/2006 -VARIATION 2004/2005
ITALY 52.6 - 4%
FRANCE 53.3 - 9%
SPAIN 39.3 - 21%
GERMANY 9.1 -10%
PORTUGAL 6.6 -11%
GREECE 4.1 - 5%
HUNGARY 3.1 -41%
AUSTRIA 2.2 -20%
SLOVENIA 1.2 +21%
CZECH REPUBLIC 0.5 + 6%
SLOVAKIA 0.4 - 2%
CYPRUS 0.2 -52%
LUXEMBOURG 0.1 -11%
MALTA 0.07
OTHERS EUROPE 0.02 - 9%
TOTAL (25) EUROPE 172.9 -11,9%