Spain: foresees a decrease in grape harvest that should ensure an increase in the price
The Wine Sector of ASAJA Castilla-La Mancha has met in Tomelloso (Ciudad Real) to evaluate the beginning of the campaign and has found a decrease in harvest combined with low stocks in wineries and excellent quality in grapes, suggests that prices should develop upwards.
The Organization has indicated that the dry autumn of 2021, together with the recent heat waves of spring and summer this year, generate much uncertainty regarding the harvest campaign, whose first forecast is that it will be well below the average of the last five campaigns.
The Sectorial has also found a good health status of grapes due to the absence of diseases that affect quality.
Therefore, the Organization understands that the prices of grapes should be higher than last year and, in any case, cover production costs not only because it contemplates the Law of the Food Chain, but because this year have skyrocketed, as a consequence of the continuous increases in agricultural inputs that, in the last year, have increased, as is the case with fertilizers about 300%, electricity 270% and agricultural diesel more than 70%.
Sales contract
In this sense, it has reminded farmers not to deliver their product without having agreed a price that must be indicated in the contract of sale, mandatory.
The Sectorial has also called for greater determination when talking about any control in the sector, from preventing it from entering the marketing circuit of wine made with by-products or alcohols of non-wine origin to monitoring the movements of production between the different autonomous communities.
In this sense, the Sectorial has also reiterated the need to control industrial yields in the different grape varieties, in order to put order in wine production. This proposal was already submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development at the last Agrarian Council so the Organization regrets that the next harvest campaign will begin without regulating this issue.
Controls
The Agrarian Organization has called on the Ministry of Agriculture to increase the numbers and resources in this campaign in order to ensure controls and compliance with regulations. It also called on both the Food Information and Control Agency (AICA) and the Guardia Civil to achieve the objective of traceability.
Finally, the Sectorial has analyzed the operation of agricultural insurance in the vineyard, agreeing a specific meeting next week to study the real coverage of insurance against heat stroke accidents.
SOURCE: AGROCLM.COM