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The EU Commission has announced that it will once again support the crisis distillation of Portuguese wine with 15 million euros. Last year, the EU already made 20 million euros available for this purpose. According to the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture, companies with "serious market problems" have benefited from this.
The economic situation has not recovered for many producers in 2024 either, as exports fell slightly and last year's harvest of 7.5 million hectolitres was ten per cent higher than in 2022.
According to the trade associations, cheap mass imports from Spain are also to blame for the situation. They have contributed to "inflating the surplus stocks". Portuguese experts also denounce unfair competition and blame misleading labelling for the origin of the products. In a statement, the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture said that the support for crisis distillation this year was "a temporary and exceptional strategy to deal with the crisis, which will not happen again in the future". The Portuguese government has also announced stricter controls to prevent illegal wine imports. For example, companies that have imported wine in the past three years will be denied access to distillation aid.
(ru / Vitisphere)