Wine exports down 10% in 2003

Romanian wine exports were down 10% in euros to 22.3 million euros last year. Quantitatively speaking, exports fell 17%, but the drop in value was somewhat compensated for by the increase in the Romanian wine price last year. As most exports go to the European Union, the trend is best described in euros. Exports of Romanian wine in 2003 reached 420,000 hectolitres compared with 504,500 hectolitres in the previous year. “The producers say these fluctuations are largely due to the decline in bulk wine exports in 2003, to the good of the bottled wine, whose added value is higher. The appreciation of Romania’s exported wine quality proves, on the one hand, the good marketing policy applied by producers following privatisation of the former state-owned winemaking companies, and, on the other hand, the significant investments they made in both vineyards and upgrading the installations used for winemaking and winemaking process control,” says Ovidiu Gheorghe, chairman of the National Vine and Wine Employers Association. ZF