Loans of 2.6 million euros to pay for the grape harvest

The voice of Galicia

M. Alfonso

Writing / The Voice

19/01/2021 09:15 h
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The coronavirus crisis is being felt with special force in the wine sector Galician. The confinement decreed during March of last year and the subsequent restrictions that the hospitality sector is suffering throughout Spain are leaving its mark on the account balances of Galician wineries. In order to help the industry cope with this situation, Medio Rural launched the vintage loan a few months ago, a tool designed to give companies liquidity and help them pay the grape growers in a timely manner. According to the data provided by the councilor, un total of 28 companies in the community have taken advantage of this measure, allowing mobilize just over 2.6 million euros.

Went to end of november last year when Medio Rural published the call for a credit system, thought to help pay for the grape in an exercise that is proving especially difficult for the sector. The loans had a duration of five years, with a grace period, and they had a budget of almost six million euros, which will allow mobilizing up to 37.5 million. However, only a third of this item has been used because, according to the data provided by the councilor, The deadline for the admission of applications has closed, a total of 28, which have requested 2.6 million euros in financing. The most of these requests come from companies located in the provinces of Ourense and Pontevedra, which is also where the bulk of wine appellations of origin are concentrated.

Requirements to be met

To be eligible for these grants, wineries had to meet a series of requirements. The first, that all the grapes purchased from the winegrower must have the corresponding contract. The second, that its average price could not be less than 70% of the average unit price paid in the last five years by the buyer for all purchased grapes of that variety in that protected geographical area. With these two conditions we wanted to ensure that the vintner had received a fair price for its harvest and that the transaction had been made in accordance with the law of the food chain. In fact, the money requested could only be used to buy grapes in this year’s campaign or, in the case of own-produced grapes, to finance working capital. In both cases, the object had to be the production of wine protected by a designation of origin or by a protected geographical indication. Finally, the maximum amount of the loan had to correspond to the total amount of the grapes purchased during the campaign. In the case of wineries with their own production, the maximum amount was obtained by multiplying the production, in kilos of declared grapes, by between 1.2 and 0.6 euros kilos, depending on the variety. In any case, the requested credit could never exceed the maximum of 200,000 euros.