COAG asks the Government to control the controls in warehouses

The Coordinator of Farmers and Livestock Organizations (COAG) has called on the Ministry of Agriculture and the competent bodies of the Autonomous Communities to carry out an exhaustive control of the stocks in warehouses to prevent those surpluses from the previous campaign (which cannot be qualified as it came from not meeting the traceability parameters of EU regulations), they can be reintroduced into the market taking advantage of the fermentation of the new high quality must.

During the meeting held at the ministerial headquarters, COAG representatives have stressed that the competent authorities should avoid any kind of practice that artificially and fraudulently inflates the offer in the market with the intention of avoiding a natural price increase in a campaign with a decrease of 25% nationwide, (with 40% drops in early varieties already collected), and excellent quality.

“Powerfully attracts attention that tablets repeat prices from the previous year when market conditions are radically different. Internationally, extraordinary drought and heat waves have caused a crop reduction of over 10% in Argentina, Chile and Australia. In France, the leading European producer, estimates point to a 13% drop compared to the 2018 vintage and in Italy the reduction rises to 16%. In this regard, we have asked the Food Information and Control Agency (AICA) and the National Commission of Markets and Competition to investigate on the one hand the suspicious coincidence in the quotes before a possible price arrangement of the large wineries and on the other that they check if the prices published in tables and contracts correspond to the final liquidation of the farmer ”, said the head of the wine sector of COAG, Joaquín Vizcaíno.

Also, during the meeting, the Ministry of Agriculture, Autonomous Communities and regulatory councils of the D.O. that reinforce its quality controls to avoid any type of fraud that impacts the image of Spanish wine. In this sense, this organization works with the MAP in the elaboration of a demanding quality standard that prohibits, among other issues, converting grapes with a low alcohol content into wine. It has also been urged to closely monitor the fate of wine by-products and the authenticity of wine spirits.