On October 28th the Director General of the OIV, Federico Castellucci, presented the data available at this time of year concerning wine production.
World wine production is rising considerably, taking into account the low vinified quantity produced in 2012 (258 Mhl). The vitivinicultural world has returned to 2006 production levels this year despite the persistent decline – by around 15,000 hectares in 2013 – of the global vineyard surface area, particularly in Italy and Spain. Outside Europe, the overall rate of growth for areas under vines planted in the southern hemisphere and in the United States has slowed for several harvests now.
“With a loss of 300,000 hectares of vines compared with the year 2006, the 2013 harvest has been fairly significant thanks to a productivity which continues to increase despite the abrupt stop caused by adverse climate conditions in 2012″, the Director General of the OIV explained.
According to the forecasts, the world should produce 281 million hectolitres of wine in 2013. In the European Union, “production (164 Mhl) may also be qualified as relatively high”, stated Mr Castellucci. Forecasts from the main European wine-producing countries indicate an increase, which is very significant in some cases, compared with the previous harvest. This is the case in Spain, where a 23% rise in production has been recorded, at more than 40 million hectolitres. In France and Portugal, the increase was 7% compared with 2012.
Outside the EU, all the countries recorded significant growth in vinified production, with the United States producing 22 Mhl. There was also an increase in South America: Chile hit a new record at 12.8 Mhl and Argentina’s vinified harvest was 15 Mhl (+27%) after a poor year in 2012. New Zealand recorded a record level of production of 2.5 Mhl this year, while Australia could reach an estimated production of 13.5 Mhl.
Source: www.oiv.int
