The Portuguese Minister of Agriculture, Maria do Céu Antunes Albuquerque, met yesterday in Lisbon with members of the Interprofessional Council of the Institute of Douro and Port Wines (IVDP) to discuss the situation of the wine sector in the demarcated region of the Douro.

At the meeting, the minister announced the availability of 3 million euros of IVDP management balances for the creation of a specific storage measure for Oporto wine called Qualitative Reserve.

This measure aims to minimize losses in the sector and the effects on producers' incomes due to reduced consumption and the break in the markets due to COVID-19.

"This quantity is the quantity that we have available immediately, so that we can work with the Interprofessional Council to build the Qualitative Reserve for port wine," said Maria do Céu Antunes Albuquerque.

The head of the agriculture portfolio recalled the set of specific measures for the wine sector already adopted, namely the advance of payment requests amounting to € 4.33 million for promotion in third countries, as well as flexibility of measures, such as the extension of deadlines, the eligibility of expenses related to events canceled due to the pandemic and the non-penalty for low financial execution of projects in 2020.

It is recalled that this sector had access to the cross-cutting measures created by the Government, such as simplified dismissal, guaranteed lines of credit and the strengthening of export credit insurance. In June, the Ministry of Agriculture approved crisis measures for the sector for the amount of 15 million euros, aimed at distilling wines with Designation of Origin or Geographical Indication and to support the storage of wine in crisis situations. The provision of the last notification for the Grapevine Restructuring and Conversion Support Plan (VITIS) was also reinforced by 23.5 million euros, increasing from 50 to 73.5 million euros.

During the meeting, the Portuguese Minister of Agriculture recalled that, specifically with regard to the Douro region, 2.06 million euros are foreseen in the IVDP budget for promotional actions in national and international markets.

In addition, Portugal Tourism will resume, at the end of this month, the wine tourism promotion campaign.

Despite the limitations caused by COVID-19, there are already positive signs in wine exports from the Douro region. According to the IVDP, exports in June, compared to the same month of the previous year, grew 14.7% in quantity and 13.5% in value, in the case of port wine, and 19.4% in quantity and 14.5% in value , for Douro wine.

Maria do Céu Antunes Albuquerque also recalled that the European Commission is evaluating other measures and that the Portuguese Government is attentive to the needs and evolution of the sector.