The traditional breakfast of the Wine Corporation in Mendoza, with an important presence of political and economic leaders in the framework of the harvest, began with a specific request from the winemakers to reject the zero tolerance law behind the wheel awaiting the final sanction in the national Senate.
Economy Minister Sergio Massa, a leading figure in the government party present at the Harvest Festival, listened carefully to the company’s criticisms of the complications that the sector is experiencing.
The outgoing president of Coviar, José Pepe Zuccardi, has been critical of the zero alcohol law which, he claims, it does not solve the problem of road accidents and damages the wine industry.
«The law that we want to pass in the Senate is demagogic because it promises something that will not happen. It is a road safety law with a single article, which says that the tolerance is from 0.5 to 0% of alcohol in the blood, when it will be approved in the world that there are no road accidents due to alcohol with drivers having less by 0.5″, said the winemaker. And he declared: “It’s an absurd law for a wine country.”
Argentina as a wine country is a relevant player. It is the seventh country with the largest vineyard area in the world.
A review of the numbers of the wine sector shows its importance: Argentina is the 5th world producer of wines, 9th exporter, 9th consumer market, 7th for per capita consumption, with 18 provinces producing grapes, 215,000 hectares, 24,000 vineyards, 17,000 producers, 900 factories, 100,000 direct jobs and 300,000 indirect jobs.
Change of command
“This year we will face one of the lowest crops of which there is memory. And as weather events are becoming more extreme, the decapitalization process of our producers, especially the smallest ones, shows a worrying reality, linked to interest rates that are impossible for the sector, and to an inflation that neither permits nor admits of support, which, added to the lack of large aqueducts and the difficult access to technology for water management places us at a difficult crossroads”, began the new president of the Vitivinícola Corporation, Mario González.
“We want a viticulture with producers within the system, avoiding large concentrations,” said the leader of the winery, softening the ears of the other three ministers who accompanied the productive meeting, Eduardo Wado de Pedro, Victoria Tolosa Paz and Daniel Filmus.
Wine is no longer just a business in the Cuyo or Andean provinces. The good reputation of Argentine wines around the world has stimulated new investments, today the grapes are produced in Entre Ríos, Jujuy, Buenos Aires or Chubut. “This opens up a whole horizon in which growth is possible that guarantees an improvement in productivity, federal development and the incorporation of new producers,” said the head of Coviar.
Then came a list of the subsistence problems of the wine sector: “The downsizing process is real and without specific policies it will inexorably worsen. National and provincial policies are needed to respond to the needs of those like us who generate work, have roots in the interior of the country and we carry genuine currency both for the products we export and for what the tourists who visit us spend here. Actors of the real economy need solutions”González said.
The leader said that after reaching a historic record in exports of wine and must in 2021, with more than 1,000 million dollars, “the loss of competitiveness and lack of support for promotion have caused us to fall and lose markets”.
AND required lower export withholding taxes: “We urgently need the complete and definitive elimination of withholding taxes on wine and concentrated grape juices and we ask for them to be strengthened for the promotion of our products abroad”.
He made a point on urgent matters: “We need a suitable exchange rate to support and improve the growth trend of our exports. Subsequently, Sergio Massa announced that a special exchange rate will start to apply from April, although he did not provide details.
“With Proviar II underway, there is an urgent need to implement it a plan of national and provincial water infrastructure worksAnd he also asked for a reconversion plan for the energy matrix and long-term financing lines with affordable rates.
Source: Clarin
