(Paris) France should, according to initial estimates, once again become the world’s leading wine producer ahead of Italy in 2023, a “symbolic” performance mainly linked to a less abundant harvest in Italy, AFP estimated on Monday. a specialist in the sector.
French wine production “would amount (this year) to 46 million hectoliters, i.e. a level comparable to that of 2022 and 3% higher than the 2018-2022 average”, indicated Friday the statistical service of the French ministry of Agriculture, Agreste, based on estimates established on 1er october.
Italian production should fall to around 43 million hectoliters, compared to 50 million the previous year, the main Italian agricultural organization, Coldiretti, reported on October 2 in a press release.
“It’s a notable event, because it’s symbolic,” Jean-Marie Cardebat, specialist in wine economics at the University of Bordeaux, told AFP. Since 2007, apart from 2011 and 2014, Italy has in fact retained the position of leading wine producer in the world, according to figures from the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV).
“But it is purely cyclical”, the Italian vineyards having been particularly attacked this year by mildew, added the economist.
The main Italian agricultural union, Coldiretti, for its part, evokes a “complex season from a meteorological point of view which, between bad weather and heatwaves, has reduced estimated national production by around 14%, with drops of up to 50% in the south center”.
Coldiretti was still hoping for an improvement at the beginning of October, believing that the “mild and dry” climate favored the quality of the harvest “thanks to the absence of humidity and the high temperature range between day and night”.
On the French side, “the situation of the different vineyards is contrasting”, underlined Agreste.
Production “is reduced in Bordeaux and the southwest by mildew and by heat waves and in Languedoc and Roussillon due to drought,” notes the organization. “Elsewhere, the situation is favorable, particularly in the Charentes. »
While global demand for wine has also “economically weakened, particularly from China”, the decline in Italian production “is rather good news”, because it should ease the pressure on prices, said Jean -Marie Cardebat.