Problemas vínicolas
Os produtores de vinho do Porto estão preocupados com o futuro. Mais uma indústria que sente os custos salariais a subir. Será que se pode deslocalizar a sua produção?
Via Reuters:
«With the drop in sherry sales in recent years a warning of what can happen to a niche market wine, port makers confess to some worries about the centuries-old trade. (...)
The growing role of supermarkets in key markets such as France, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands have squeezed margins for cheaper ports that rely on volume for profit, industry executives said. (...)
Labour costs have more than doubled in the last five years as wages began to rise to European levels, Symington said [Paul Symington is a managing director at family-run Symington, the biggest port wine group]. "When Portugal was more of a Third World country, it (wages) was not an undue problem. But now, it (Portugal) is not," he said. Mechanization is hard in the uneven terrain. Growers are turning to immigrant labor as native workers seek jobs elsewhere.(...)
The industry also is worrying about being flooded by 20 million liters of port, equivalent to about four Olympic-sized swimming pools, held by the cash-strapped Casa de Douro.
The one-time regulator and union, restructured in February as a registrar for the 30,000 grape growers, wants to sell the wine to help clear its 68 million euros of debt. Port houses fear sales could leave the market awash for years.»
Via Reuters:
«With the drop in sherry sales in recent years a warning of what can happen to a niche market wine, port makers confess to some worries about the centuries-old trade. (...)
The growing role of supermarkets in key markets such as France, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands have squeezed margins for cheaper ports that rely on volume for profit, industry executives said. (...)
Labour costs have more than doubled in the last five years as wages began to rise to European levels, Symington said [Paul Symington is a managing director at family-run Symington, the biggest port wine group]. "When Portugal was more of a Third World country, it (wages) was not an undue problem. But now, it (Portugal) is not," he said. Mechanization is hard in the uneven terrain. Growers are turning to immigrant labor as native workers seek jobs elsewhere.(...)
The industry also is worrying about being flooded by 20 million liters of port, equivalent to about four Olympic-sized swimming pools, held by the cash-strapped Casa de Douro.
The one-time regulator and union, restructured in February as a registrar for the 30,000 grape growers, wants to sell the wine to help clear its 68 million euros of debt. Port houses fear sales could leave the market awash for years.»
