There are numerous″ small and medium-sized wine producers on the verge of bankruptcy″

ANCEVE – National Association of Traders and Exporters of Wines and Spirits is concerned about the “dramatic situation” in the sector and warns that the continued rise in prices of raw materials, bottling materials, transport and in general “many small and medium-sized – major wine producers on the brink of bankruptcy”.

In a statement, the association complained that it is “urgent and necessary” for the government to “accept an extraordinary support plan” for the wine sector, a sector that “takes the name Portugal far away but is strangled by the relentless increase in costs”.

The association, chaired by Paulo Amorim, makes a long list of the rise in costs, explaining that the price of fuel “has risen” – agricultural diesel has risen from 83 cents to almost 1.80 euros per liter, he says – and given that “no it makes sense that the state levies so many taxes in this area”, that fertilizers and other “essential” agricultural materials today “cost more than double”, that cardboard boxes have increased by 125% and bottles and labels by 50 % have risen . Capsules are 30% more expensive and corks are 20%.

“All suppliers now charge manufacturers for the transportation of materials, which was previously included in the prices. And they started demanding payment on delivery from small and medium-sized producers, without allocating deadlines, as was the case before,” adds he to it.

Transport costs are also “increasing” and ANCEVE cites the example of sending a pallet of wine from Lisbon to the Algarve, “which cost 35 euros and is now 65 euros”, with the aggravating factor “additional costs have been passed on to the fuel producer , which previously did not exist”.

Added to this are the “massive supply problems” of bottling materials, namely glass and cardboard, and the lack of manpower, a situation exacerbated by the approach of the harvest. At this level, ANCEVE points the finger at the legislation, which “remains inappropriate to reality, without any flexibility”. And it specifies why: “If a minimum wage worker accepts, by hypothesis, to work on Saturdays, to try to increase his wages, he ends up getting less money at the end of the month, because the automatic increase of the step harmful is to him drastically”.

Finally, the association warns that, despite all these increases in production costs, wine producers were only able to adjust their sales prices by about 10%, “so the vast majority will suffer huge losses at the end of the year, if they are there.”

Ilídia Pinto is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo