The Portuguese Government is preparing to announce this Friday new support measures for winegrowers in the Douro wine region, who are facing a crisis marked by difficulties in selling their grapes and prices that do not keep up with the rising costs of production. The announcement was made by the Minister of Agriculture, José Manuel Fernandes, on the sidelines of AgroSemana in Póvoa de Varzim.
The Executive will implement two main responses: direct financial support for producers who were unable to sell their grapes, to be announced by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro at the Council of Ministers, and a new 100 million euro treasury credit line for companies and cooperatives to pay producers for their grapes. In the case of cooperatives, access to the credit line will be limited to those that have not imported wine in the last three years.
The crisis in the Douro results from a set of factors that have been accumulating: overproduction, falling sales of the region's wines, rising production costs, and an international context of uncertainty with changing consumption habits. The approximately 18,000 Douro winegrowers face difficulties in selling grapes that fall outside the "benefício" — the maximum quantity of fortified wine that each producer can sell under the Demarcated Region of the Douro regime.
Producers have already expressed their discontent. This Wednesday, several winegrowers dumped about 300 kilograms of grapes in front of the headquarters of the Institute of Douro and Porto Wines in Peso da Régua, protesting against the difficulties in selling their produce. New protests have also been announced for this Friday at the opening of Vindouro in São João da Pesqueira, where support measures for the region will be demanded.
