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Prices for many raw materials for the wine industry are rising while delivery times are lengthening. The French online portal vitisphere.com quotes Philippe Serrault, the general manager of the Loire Viti Vini Distribution company: "We have gone through a phase where there was little activity and now we have a demand that is higher than before the crisis. The coincidence of these two phenomena leads to inflation, to which problems with availability are added".
The extremely high global demand for wood is being felt by wineries in the purchase of barrels as well as packaging boxes and pallets. As a raw material for paper production, this is also noticeable for cardboard boxes; the supply lags far behind the demand. Price increases have been as high as 30 per cent within a year. The conversion of many food packaging from plastic to paper as well as the boom in e-commerce are further exacerbating the situation.
For glass bottles, the melting furnaces are running at full speed, but they cannot yet make up for the cutback in production during the 2020 crisis. Supply and price pressures are not limited to consumer goods. The rising price of stainless steel is affecting the purchase of new tanks, as is the metal of vineyard poles. In addition, the build-up of reserves through higher inventories triggers a snowball effect and artificially increases demand.
(al / source: vitisphere; photo: pixabay)