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French wine producers are looking to the UK and the USA with concern. The UK's exit from the EU and US President Donald Trump's announcement to increase import tariffs threaten to have a negative impact on French wine exports, the newspaper Le Figaro reports.
"The United Kingdom and the United States are our two most important export markets," Le Figaro quotes Jean-Marie Barillère, president of the National Branch Committee for Wines with Protected Denomination of Origin (CNIV). "If, as announced, the American president raises customs duties by 20 percent and the UK leaves the European Union, the effects threaten to weigh heavily on our business." According to the report, the threat primarily affects wines in the lower and medium price segments; exports of premium growths such as Burgundy or Champagne are less or not at risk, at least for the time being. "The devaluation of the British pound by about 20 percent after the pro-Brexit vote was a hard blow for our sales across the Channel," Thomas Montagne, president of the Committee of Independent Wine Producers of France, told Le Figaro."We suffered a drop in orders due to the automatic increase in the price of our wines, especially in the mid-range segment."
Meanwhile, British trade organisations are demanding tax cuts from the government for their part, according to information from the online magazine wein.com. The UK is the second largest wine importer in the world and obtains half of its imported wines from EU countries. Especially in the low and medium market segment, price increases would have a negative impact on sales, wein.com writes. "We want to prevent production and trade flows from being affected by the Brexit. It must not be that Europe's vintners have to overcome obstacles when they sell their products", the magazine quotes Simon Stannard, director for European affairs at the British Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA). The association pleads "for duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market", says wein.com.