site.btaSerbia’s Wine Industry Has No Future Without Exports of 15-30 Mln Bottles to China, Vucic Says

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said there would be no salvation for Serbia’s wine industry unless it begins exporting between 15 and 30 million bottles of wine annually to China, Serbian public broadcaster RTS reported.

“We simply have to secure as much export to China as possible, and then the wine industry will be able to survive,” Vucic said on Tuesday, adding that wine production in Europe is slowly declining and that Europeans are increasingly uprooting vineyards.

He said that it is impossible to enter both the French and Italian markets at the same time, as they, together with the United States, are the world’s largest wine producers.

“We are too small for something like that. That is why China is of enormous importance to us,” Vucic stressed.

On Monday, the Serbian president announced that loans supporting the production of wine, beer and spirits would be increased from RSD 10 million (about EUR 85,200) to RSD 20 million (about EUR 170,400).

Vucic said these were exceptional conditions that should further encourage the work of Serbian distilleries, wineries and breweries. He added that in recent years Serbia has made significant progress both in the number and the quality of its distilleries and wineries.