Copa and Cogeca released new figures for this years’ harvest at the beginning of the month showing production was up by 2.7% on average in the EU-28, compared to last year, partly as a result of the favourable weather conditions in many member states. Chairman of Copa-Cogeca Wine Working Party Thierry Coste said “We saw a good harvest this year in most countries, with good yields and quality, partly as a result of the better weather conditions, reaching 171.2 million hectoliters compared to 166.7 mhl last year.
But it is still less than levels seen in 2012/13”. In particular, production was up in the big producer countries France with 47.7 mhl and Italy with 50.3 mhl . Sharp increases were also seen in Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Portugal. But some Spanish areas– a large producer country – suffered from drought this year seeing a production fall of 5.3% . “These harvest data, combined with no significant increase in stock levels, hint that the current dynamic market situation for both trade flows and prices will continue for the entire marketing year ahead”, Mr Coste added.