Who looks after the overall wellbeing of the French wine industry? The Interprofessions, INAO, DGDDI, and French Ministry of Agriculture, amongst others, are all involved in the collection of wine-related data. So there’s plenty of information available, but not always a great deal of in-depth analysis, at least not on a country-wide level.
Recently, FranceAgriMer took on the task of examining the current state of the French wine industry and coming up with a strategic plan suitable for carrying the industry forward through to 2025. That’s a highly ambitious undertaking set within the overarching themes of: (1) Maintaining a sustainable National market; and (2) Increasing the value and volume in export markets.
The report opens with key figures about the current state of the French wine industry and acknowledges its weaknesses in a SWOT analysis. These include: Erosion of export market share; Economic difficulties in some vineyards; Declining domestic consumption; High costs and low productivity compared to some competitors; and a regulatory framework which discourages innovation.
Following the scene setting SWOT analysis, the report follows the lines of a clasical management report with seven key thematic questions; five levers for addressing the two overarching themes; and 73 measures proposed to achieve 21 objectives … The objectives range from improving economic analysis to managing climatic risk; from encouraging innovation in the French wine industry to improving the health of French vineyards. This is all good stuff, though most of it is (hopefully) also being considered by other generic wine organisations representing competitor countries.
So the details of implementation are really important and here the report feels threadbare. Few would argue against more co-operation between Inter-professionals – but how exactly is this to be achieved? And measures designed to manage climatic risk are surely to be welcomed – but is proposing that adequate insurance cover be available a sufficient response?
Make up your own mind by reading the full report which is available to download here (PDF)