A scarce world-wide harvest brings about the need of an upward adjustment of wine prices for the 2017-2018 campaign.
According the final data issued from the European Agricultural Commission of last September, the EC estimated a wine production of 145,1 MM hl in the E.U. for the 2017-2018 campaign, which supposes a fall of 14,4 % with respect to last year’s. This means a reduction of 24 MM hl that is the lowest production level since 1982, 35 years ago.
Last September 14, The Guardian reported that France faced the worst wine production since 1945, with a drop of 18 % less than the former year (which had already been of the scarcest for the last years) with areas such as Bordeaux where a 40 % reduction was estimated. The main reason being the spring frosts.
Economia Vitícola, October 5, also reported that “the extreme climate” takes the E.U. 17/18 campaign of wine production to historic minimums, announcing drops of 16 % in Spain, 17 % in France and 21 % in Italy, its main production markets. The spring frosts together with the summer droughts were also mentioned as the main reason for this fall.
Last October CNN published an article by Ivanna Kottasova titled: “A disastrous campaign indicates that the prices of wine might be rising” underlining that Italy, France and Spain, countries that together totalize half of the world-wide production, were facing one of the worst harvests in decades.
If we add to all this that Chile also foresaw a fall in wine production and the recent California fires which have devastated some of the USA’s main wine production areas, the outlook seems not all promising.
Well, the OIV (International Wine and Vine Organization) has just published their facts confirming these previsions: 246,7 MM hl world-wide production (-8,2 %) which amounts to 2.201 million liters less than last year.
