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French wine exports drowning as growers call for help
Note this is happening while world wine consumption is rising rapidly. French wine exports sank again in the first quarter of 2005 confirming a downward spiral which has plunged the sector into crisis and brought thousands of wine-growers out onto the streets in protest. "Global over-production in 2004, which is put at between 10 to 20 million hectolitres, is pulling prices down and adding to the problems of French wines which are being asked to become simpler in taste to meet growing world consumption," said Louis-Regis Affre, an official from the French Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits (FEVS). Apart from champagnes and sparkling wines, exports of French wine dropped some 13.0 percent in value and 13.2 percent in volume in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, FEVS said. This adds to the misery seen in 2004, when French wine exports lost some 9.2 percent in value, of which some 752 million euros (943 million dollars) were lost in just the first quarter. Posted by: phil_b 2005-05-29 |
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