Brussels, 04/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations in the EU (Copa) and the General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives in the EU (Cogeca) published the latest figures on this year's wine harvest in Brussels on Wednesday 4 November. They reveal an average rise of 2.7% in production in the EU compared with last year.
This increase in European wine production can be explained in part by the favourable weather conditions in many member states.
Most countries report a fine harvest this year, with good yields and quality, and production reaching 171.2 million hectolitres (hl) in 2015-2016, compared with 166.7 million hl in the 2014-2015 marketing year. This year's harvest, nonetheless, remains lower than levels in 2012-2013 (total of 175.7 million hl). The 2014 harvest was down 5.1% on that of 2013.
Production has risen in the big producer countries, such as Italy (up 12.6% to 50.3 million hl) and France (up 1.2% to 47.7 million hl). Sharp increases were also seen in Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria (up 25.1% to 2.5 million hl) and Portugal (up 8.1% to 6.7 million hl). Some areas of Spain - a large producer country - suffered from drought this year and their production has fallen. Production of Spanish wine in 2015 (40.6 million hl) will decrease by 8.4%, according to Copa-Cogeca forecasts. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)