Champagne producers want smaller harvests amid Chinese tariffs

The French Champagne Committee, together with producers, has suggested cut the number of grapes harvested in 2024following disappointing champagne sales, with customers reluctant to spend on luxury items.

Champagne sales have already plummeted by more than 15% in the first six months of the yearamounting to around 106.7 million bottles. To protect producers from further losses, the maximum yield level for grapes harvested this year has therefore been set at 10,000 kilograms per hectare, compared with 11,400 kilograms per hectare in the previous year.

The current harvest has already been affected by adverse weather conditions.with excessive rainfall and frost causing problems such as mildew, which damages crops. In summer, heat waves can cause violent storms.

However, this year’s champagne supply may still be salvageable as most of the champagne bottles They use many different vintages. For this reason, it is very common to use the stocks from previous years, which are usually replenished during times of good harvests.

French action plan to protect producers and seasonal workers

The French Champagne committee also outlined new changes to employment rules for seasonal workers on Friday, including Improving industry guidelines and health and safety practicesas well as tips on how to attract more seasonal workers.

Regarding these changes, Mazime Toubart and David Chatillon, co-presidents of the Champagne Committee, said in a statement: “All the measures presented today are the result of work carried out since October 2023 to develop this unprecedented and necessary action plan. We would like to pay tribute to the Government’s involvement in our work, with the support of the French Minister for Employment, Health and Solidarity, Catherine Vautrin.

“The Champagne Committee has assumed its collective responsibilities by putting in place concrete tools. We now have everyone’s support to ensure that individual practices live up to the excellence of our designation of origin.”

Chinese tariffs continue to weigh on luxury goods producers

The escalating trade war between the EU and China, triggered by EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, is intensifying, with China also threatening to impose retaliatory tariffs. These are being applied to EU exports of luxury goods such as brandy, came and cognac, watches and handbagsas well as other items such as dairy products and pork.

Producers like Pernod Ricard and Moet Hennessy have already come under fire. Apart from this, the economic uncertainty felt around the world at the moment, with higher interest rates, skyrocketing inflation and living costs, and geopolitical tensions, have made people increasingly hesitant to spend on luxury items.