Some statistics selected from the briefing material released when EU presented it’s discussion proposal for new wine policy: Europe counts for 40% of the world’s wine acreage and 60% of world wine production. It also accounts for 60% of consumption. Average production (of EU 25) is 178 million hectolitres, worth €16.1 billion.
- France is the biggest producer with 55M hl (30% of the total). If counted in value France actually represents 50%, producing €7.7 bn worth.
- Second is Italy with 51M hl (28%) or €4.2 bn (26%).
- Third place goes to Spain with 43M hl (23%) worth €1.2 bn (7.6%).
- Germany produces only 10M hl but the value is almost the same as that of Spain (€1.1 bn). So, the other 21 countries share the remaining 10%:
- Portugal (7.2M hl/€1 bn),
- Hungary (4.5M hl/€181M),
- Greece (€3.6 M hl/€46M),
- Austria (2.5M hl/€437M),
- Slovenia (1M hl),
- Czech Republic (0.5M hl),
- Slovakia (0.4M hl),
- Cyprus (0.4M hl),
- Luxemburg (0.14M hl), and
- Malta (0.07M hl)
EU expects overproduction to reach 27M hl, i.e. 15% of production, by 2010 – unless a reform of support policies are agreed. Total acreage within the EU 25 is 3.4 million hectares of vines.
