Posted on 05/29/2005 3:11:18 PM PDT by quidnunc
Paris – French wine exports sank again in the first quarter of 2005 confirming a downward spiral which has plunged the sector into crisis and brought thousands of wine-growers out onto the streets in protest.
"Global over-production in 2004, which is put at between 10 to 20 million hectolitres, is pulling prices down and adding to the problems of French wines which are being asked to become simpler in taste to meet growing world consumption," said Louis-Regis Affre, an official from the French Federation of Exporters of Wines and Spirits (FEVS).
Apart from champagnes and sparkling wines, exports of French wine dropped some 13.0% in value and 13.2% in volume in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, FEVS said.
This adds to the misery seen in 2004, when French wine exports lost some 9.2% in value, of which some €752m ($943m) were lost in just the first quarter.
The French government recently unlocked €7m in aid in a bid to throw a lifebuoy to the country's wine producers, but for many it is merely a drop in the ocean.
"It's very little in relation to what is actually needed, and the framework to implement it isn't even in place yet," said Affre.
On Wednesday, thousands of producers took to the streets of the southern city of Nimes in the Languedoc-Roussillon region demanding further emergency measures to save wine-growers from disaster.
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(Excerpt) Read more at finance24.com ...
I hope the damn French economy totally collapses.
They are an utterly dispicable people.
I can proudly report that I have not contributed even one bottle to the Frenchies exports. Get rid of their antiAmerican government and attitude, and I'll get a bottle to celebrate - wake me when that happens.
Nobody needed O'Reilly to lead this. We started boycotting on our own long before O'Reilly got on board.
I'm convinced our Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana wines taste as good or better than anything from overseas. And you get to buy them by taste rather than by label. The only other business that lets you do that, right off the top of my head, is bakeries.
Blueberry wine sounds great. In Ohio you'll see blackberry, apple, strawberry, etc. While I prefer the grape, the others are nice every now and then. A good apple wine is a treat.
Actually, French consumption of wine is hurting them, due to the fact that the French Government has cracke down on drunk driving--people are drinking less and going into-gasp-rehab!
But let 'em die! Let their babies die! I hope they choke on their brie and DIE!
(Sarcasm--I have no time for such hate, myself, I save it for better, more deserving things, like you know, TERRORISM)
And Bill O' Reilly is an IDIOT.
Treachery = lower sales . . . hummmm, who-da-thunk-it?
I prefer the Italian wines anyway. So sad, too bad.
"Scrumptious." I picked up using "scrumpy" to mean "delicious" from an English friend of mine. It's so very Briget Jones, LOL! ;)
We've made cider in the past, both hard and sweet. I've never heard of cider being called "scrumpy," before. You learn something new here every day. :)
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