Wine: it was enough to grow 1% for Portugal to be an exception in a year when world production was “extremely low”
The world production of wine in 2021 “can be considered extremely low”, being just above 2017, a year “historically weak”, announced the OIV – International Organization of Vine and Wine this Thursday.
The numbers point to a production between 247.1 and 253.5 million hectoliters, which translates into an average estimate of 250.3 million hectoliters and a fall of 4% compared to 2020. In comparison with the values of the last 20 years, the decline is 7%.
As unfavorable weather conditions in producing countries in southern Europe, explain this fall that places the world production of wine below the average numbers of the sector for the third consecutive year. In the US and the Southern Hemisphere, the picture is different.
The impact of the crash in the global wine sector has to be analyzed in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, in a context of “relatively high volatility and uncertainty”, indicated Paul Roca, director of the OIV, at the presentation conference of the first general on 2021 based on data collected in 28 countries that represent 85% of world production.
Thus, by region, the OIV estimates the drop in the EU at 21%, to 145 million hectoliters. Italy, Spain and France, the trio of countries that account for 79% of European Union production and 45% of world production, forecast drops of 9%, 14% and 27%, respectively.
The picture is common to all EU producers, with 4 exceptions: Portugal, expecting a slight increase of 1%, to 6.5 million hectoliters, Germany (+4%), Romania (+ 37%) and Hungary (+6%).
Outside the EU everything changes
Outside the EU, in large New World producers such as the US, there is a record of a 6% increase compared to 2020, to 24.1 million hectoliters, a figure that is however 3% below the country’s average in recent years. five years. As for the Southern Hemisphere, says the OIV, there is an expectation of a record year, around 59 million hectoliters, which means a jump of 19% compared to 2020, a year in which the weather affected viticulture in that area of the world .