The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) said on Tuesday that the amount of wine produced worldwide has decreased to its lowest point since 1961 as a result of vineyards being severely damaged by harsh weather.
As it released its preliminary estimates, the intergovernmental agency stated that output had decreased by 7% from the previous year to 244.1 million hectolitres.
“Once again, extreme climatic conditions — such as early frost, heavy rainfall, and drought — have significantly impacted the output of the world vineyard,” the agency, which supplies statistics to nations that grow and consume grapes and wine, stated.
There were notable declines in production for several major southern hemisphere producers. The output of Brazil, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, Australia, and South Africa all decreased by 10 to 30 percent.
France took over as the world’s top producer after Italy’s output dropped by 12 percent and its production remained constant.
Spain continued to be the third-largest producer of wine in the world despite a 14% decline in production compared to its five-year average.
If there is any good news for the sector, it could be that the imbalance in the market will be lessened.
The OIV stated that “a context where global consumption is declining and stocks are high in many regions of the world, the expected low production could bring equilibrium to the world market.”
According to Inaki Garcia de Cortazar-Atauri of the French national agronomical research institute INRAE, the OIV mentions that extreme weather events have an impact on production, but they haven’t made a clear connection between it and climate change.
An expert on how climate change affects agriculture, he explained that the reason for the devastation in Italy was that farmed ground did not have the same capacity to absorb water as natural soil.
Nonetheless, he noted that “one can observe that extreme weather events are becoming more and more frequent,” with heat waves or rainy spells hitting certain areas and exacerbating pre-existing issues like mildew.
