Global wine woes continue

The global wine industry is facing a challenging landscape, with wine production and consumption all trending downwards.

- Glenneis Kriel reports.

The International Organisation of Vine and Wine's (IOV) recently released 'State of the World Vine and Wine Sector' report sketches a dismal picture of wine production and consumption trends.

Year-on-year, the contraction of the vineyard surface area, which include all grape types, slowed to 0,6%, bringing the total area to 7,1 million hectares in 2024. This marks the fourth consecutive year of decline, driven by vineyard removals across major vine-growing regions.

The declining trend is noted for all grape types, with wine grapes being affected the most.

Italy is the only country in the Top 7, in terms of the size of its surface area, where production did not decline, but increased by 0,8% to 738 000ha.

SURFACE AREA DECLINE

For the rest of the Top 7, the surface area declined by 1,5% to 930 000ha in Spain; 0,7% to 783 000ha in France; 0,4% to 753 000ha in China, and 1% to 402 000ha in Turkey.

In the US, the area declined by 0,7% to 385 000ha, making it the 11th year in a row of decline since its peak at 453 000ha in 2013, and in Argentina it declined by 2,4% to 200 000ha.