Wine sector: US retaliation on the back

1) This month started with the WTO announcement on 2 October over the U.S-EU Airbus subsidies case. The U.S. has been given the right to request a total amount of $7.5 billion (annually) equal to 6.9 billion euro incountermeasures with respect to the European Union and some EU member states, with October 18 as the effective date of additional duties. It has to be highlighted, that the US retaliation list is heavier on additional tariffs for agriculture products than for aircraft – 25% as compared to 10%.

In this regard, Spanish, French and Italian Agriculture Ministers took the floor during this month’s Agri-Fish Council in Luxembourg (14-15 October), and voiced their concerns respectively on the damaging impact on olive oil and table olives (ES), cheeses (IT) and wine (FR), among the most affected agri-food products.

2) Key topics for the wine sector as internationalization, innovation, trade dynamics, finance, digital transformation & competitiveness were at the core of the Wine Business Forum, which was held during the Milan Wine Week (6-13 October 2019), and which gathered more than 100 winemakers, businesses and experts.

3) Winemakers in France are changing their practices in an effort to adapt to the current changing environment and climatic hazards. Labels like organic, biodynamic and the so-called “high environmental value”certifications (HVE) are gaining traction, among them, and among consumers as well.

4) In terms of wine market figures, latest forecast by DG AGRI (October 2019) show that this year the EU28 wine production will return to a normal level, after the exceptional 2018 harvest of 189 million hectoliters. Estimates indicate a total wine production for 2019/2020 at around 161 Mio hectoliters.

 

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