The Sindicato Labrego Galego (SLG) is once again putting the spotlight on the situation of the viticulturists of Rías Baixas and denounces that in the current campaign the grapes are being fertilized at below the production costs, at "equivalent prices, or even lower, than those established by the homologated contract in force between 2009 and 2011," an agreement that arose within the Mesa do Viño with the intermediation of the Administration.
The farming organization warns that the sector has accumulated more than ten years without experiencing increases in the price of grapes, despite the continued rise in the cost of inputs and operating expenses. It recalls that at the harvest in 2011 the Albariño and Caíño blanco varieties were paid at 1.23 euros per kilo with 12 degrees, at 1.39 euros/kg with 12.5 degrees and at 1.50 euros/kg with 13 degrees (without VAT). "These are the figures that are now being paid, or less, in many deliveries from O Condado and O Rosal," the union maintains.
The SLG assures that it has specific examples of operations in which viticulturists have had to sell their grapes at even lower prices, in a range between 0.60 and 0.80 euros per kilo.
"In addition, the 2011 contract included an annual revision according to the CPI that could never lower the price— a mechanism that is not being applied today," the farming organization explains, reproaching that this clause of automatic updating has been set aside.
In its current calculations, the Sindicato Labrego places the production cost at around 1.5 euros per kilo, a figure higher than the rates that are being paid in most deliveries. To this it adds that the same problems that were already being denounced in 2011 persist, such as threats to leave grapes unpicked in the vineyards.