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French wine growers will begin to distill from Friday some 2 million hectoliters of unsold wine.
AFP / archive
French wine growers will begin to distill from Friday some 2 million hectoliters of wine not sold due to the drop in consumption during confinement, in order to make bioethanol or hydroalcoholic gel.
“As of tomorrow, the 33 approved distillers in France will be able to collect wine and distill”, said Thursday Didier Josso, the delegate of the wine sector of the semi-public organization FranceAgriMer which manages the agricultural markets, during a videoconference of hurry.
The exceptional measure, authorized by Brussels and financed by European public funds, must extend until October 15. This is in particular to free up space in the cellars before the next harvest.
In Spain and Italy too
Faced with a historic crisis due to the drop in consumption during containment and the drop in exports, particularly to the United States, professionals estimated the distillation needs at three million hectoliters.
The funds released should make it possible to treat two million hectoliters, at the rate of 78 euros in compensation for one hectolitre of wine under the appellation and 58 euros / hl for a wine without geographical indication, indicated Mr. Josso.
Each winegrower who wishes has until June 19 to subscribe the volume he wishes to distill with his local distiller, he said. FranceAgriMer will compensate the distillers who will be responsible for passing on the aid to producers.
All wines from all the basins are potentially eligible, with the exception of wines without geographical indication from Burgundy, Beaujolais, Alsace, Savoie, Jura, Charente and Cognac, which nevertheless represent low volumes.
The other two major wine-producing countries in the world, Spain and Italy, also use similar measures to regulate surpluses, as well as “green harvesting”, that is, destruction. immature clusters on the vines, which France does not subsidize.
Alcohol from crisis distillation is exclusively reserved for industry for the production of bioethanol, or for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, in particular for the production of the hydroalcoholic gel used to slow down the transmission of the coronavirus responsible for the epidemic of Covid-19, and “in no way to the manufacture of spirits,” said Josso.
“The main outlet being bioethanol, which also arrives on a blocked market” due in particular to the setbacks of the sugar sector, “there will also certainly be needs for bioethanol storage, but the volumes will be less” than for wine , he estimated.
((AFP / NXP)
Posted today at 1:13 p.m.-
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