FX.co ★ France and EU to spend €200 million to help winemakers

The Financial Times reported that the French Ministry of Agriculture and the European Union would allocate €200 million for the crisis program to help the country’s wine producers cope with falling prices and waning demand that created a surplus of wine. The program funds the destruction of surplus wine production. The excess stock will be turned into other alcoholic products used in perfumery. At the same time, part of the vineyards will have to be cut down. Notably, about a thousand winemakers in the Bordeaux region, France’s largest wine-growing area, have already agreed to cut down their vineyards. According to the program, more than 9,000 hectares of vineyards will be destroyed, about 8% of the total area. Winemakers experienced problems due to a sharp decline in sales in France and in foreign markets, especially in China. According to estimates, the surplus of wine in 2023 will pile to 3 million hectoliters (1 hectoliter contains 100 liters). Today, France is the world’s second-largest wine producer. The first place belongs to Italy. According to the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), French winemakers produced over 46.6 million hectoliters of wine in 2022.