PARIS, Nov 30 ― French prices for bulk red wine advanced for a fourth week to the highest in at least three years after the outlook for the 2013 vintage deteriorated, data from crop office FranceAgriMer show.
The price of bulk red and rose wine without a geographic indication rose to €67.98 (RM297.83) per 100 litres last week from €67.24 in the prior period, according to data published online by the crop office. Prices have climbed 21 per cent from €56.41 at the start of August and are up 8.5 per cent from the same week a year ago.
France this month cut its wine production estimate for a fourth time in as many months as grape rot at harvest added to hail damage and losses from poor flowering. Prices for bulk reds have climbed above the February peak that followed the country’s smallest wine production in 40 years in 2012, rising to the highest since at least August 2010, FranceAgriMer data show.
The Agriculture Ministry forecasts wine production in the country to rise 2.2 per cent this year to 42.3 million hectolitres, down from an initial July outlook for the volume of the 2013 vintage to jump 13 per cent.
The cost of bulk whites without geographic indication slipped to €76.99 a hectolitre from €77.86 the previous week, still up 17 per cent from the start of August and 12 per cent from a year ago, according to FranceAgriMer data.
Prices of red and rose wine with a protected geographic indication and mention of the grape variety climbed to €76.93 a hectolitre from €75.31 at the start of the season, while costs for white wine with the same criteria slipped to €88.88 from €89.54.
Trade in red and rose wine amounted to 159,988 hectolitres last week, while 79,351 hectolitres of white traded, according to FranceAgriMer. ― Bloomberg
