Alarm in Italian wine production of small winegrowers
Posted on: 04-05-2020 om 10:20:39
| Karina Imschoot
Most small and medium-sized Italian wineries do not supply wholesale distribution, but have as their main reference channels traditional and direct sales in the cantina, in fact blocked by Corona's current restrictions. The collapse of the wine sector would have damaging consequences for the country's economy, with serious job losses and also for the environment, with some areas planted with vines which could be abandoned without sustainable alternatives'. The chairman of the Confagricoltura wine federation, Federico Castellucci, is sounding the alarm about the crisis affecting the Italian wine sector.
With 356,000 holdings, more than 650,000 hectares of vineyards, an annual production of almost 50 million hectolitres and a value of EUR 13 billion, the wine sector is one of Italy's most representative excellence, not only for the world record in terms of production volumes, but also for its significance in terms of economy, employment, culture and landscape. However, the sharp fall in exports and the constant closure of restaurants, bars and wine shops during Phase 2 of the Corona virus emergency are endangering the survival of the sector, which employs 1.3 million people.
And, as has been said many times, the increase in sales in large-scale distribution and e-commerce are not enough to cover the losses caused by the closure of restaurants: 35% of wine is consumed in the HoReCa channel, which absorbs 55% of the value of the sector. The lockdown of these activities until the beginning of June, together with the lack of collection in the last months of sales, will result in a loss of more than 40% of the companies' turnover.
Confagricoltura has proposed a series of interventions, such as renegotiating debts, suspending mortgage and loan terms for 12 months, granting interest subsidies, activating the revolving guarantee also for wine and developing credit guarantees. It was also activated for the start of green harvesting, even partial green harvesting, support for the storage of quality wine and possible crisis distillation combined with an appropriate reduction in yield per hectare.
If you cannot get a strong and immediate injection of liquidity at a critical stage like this, without too much bureaucracy, many companies really run the risk of not even being able to reach the end of the Covid-19 emergency and will be overtaken by competitors from other European and non-European countries".
"Italian wine-growing, which has centuries-old origins, has a strong link with the soil and climate characteristics of each region: these peculiarities give our wines a unique and unsurpassed value. Condemning Italian viticulture to collapse therefore means condemning a sector which, together with art, culture and gastronomy, forms the identity and fortune of our country".
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