The representatives of the wine sector hope for a compensation fund for the spring after the visit Saturday of Emmanuel Macron on their stand at the Salon de l'Agriculture, faced with the American decision to maintain at 25% the additional customs duties on their products .
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The Head of State " made a commitment that he would bring the request for a compensation fund to the European Union " in the context of American-European aeronautical disputes and that he would " make sure that by the spring this compensation fund can be set up, ”said Jerome Despey, winegrower and secretary general of the FNSEA, the majority agricultural union, after the interview with the profession with Emmanuel Macron.
Between 300 and 400 million euros in losses
" We told the president that viticulture was suffering reprisals from a conflict that is not ours, with a turnover of 300 to 400 million euros less " for the French sector on the American market, he added. This figure of 300 to 400 million euros is the forecast of losses if the conflict were to last a year.
“ We are very concerned about the impact of American taxes. We lost 40% in November, 50% in December and the market is now completely at a standstill. We anticipate a significant drop in sales in 2020, especially for our products which sell for between 10 and 30 dollars a bottle, which represent two-thirds of our sales in the United States, "said Antoine Leccia, president. from FEVS (wine exporters) to AFP. “ There is an emergency, because once we have lost our market share, it will be very difficult to recover them. For the moment, it is notably Italian wines which benefit from our problems, ”assured Antoine Leccia.
French wine exports have been subject to 25% surcharges since October 18, 2019 in a dispute between Washington and Brussels over Airbus and Boeing. The wine industry, which employs more than 500,000 people directly and indirectly in France, exported nearly 13 billion euros in 2019, including 3.4 billion to the United States, the largest market before the United Kingdom and China. In France, wines and alcohols are the second largest contributors to the trade balance, behind aeronautics and ahead of cosmetics.
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