The French government has decided to dispose of thousands of liters of wine, valued at 200 million euros, in an effort to combat declining prices due to decreased demand for red and rosé wines in the markets. Due to excessive production, French wine producers are forced to withdraw their products from the market as they have become oversupplied, leading to filled stores, decreased orders, falling prices, and lowered wages for workers in the sector. The wine removed from the market is not wasted but instead distilled, meaning it is converted into alcohol for industrial purposes. Red and rosé wines have been the most affected. A distillation campaign was already conducted in 2020 during the COVID-19 crisis.
To address this issue, France, the second largest wine-producing country in the world after Italy, has allocated a budget of 200 million euros to compensate producers. Assistance was initially provided through funding from European and French funds earlier this year, totaling 160 million euros, to distill 3 million hectoliters of wine. However, this amount seems to have been insufficient to meet the producers' needs, prompting the French government to raise the total to 200 million euros. French Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau stated that the goal is to "ease the difficult crisis faced by vineyard farmers."
Consumption of wine among the French has declined over the past years, dropping from 100 liters per capita annually in 1975 to 40 liters today, according to the National Committee of Wine Professions (Cniv).
