Italy & Spain harvest hit by climate

Italy and Spain's 2023 crop looks down significantly associated with drought and heat waves.

Italy is estimated to slide 12% to 43.9 million hectolitres, while Spanish wine production is forecast to fall 20% to about 33 million hectolitres, meaning the lowest production in six years.

Spain, Italy and Greece were hit by two major heat waves in July with temperatures reaching over 48°C in Sardinia. Italy was also battered by storms in July uprooting trees in Trentino-Alto Adige. All of this came as heavy rains in May and June caused widespread mildew problems.

On Tuesday, the Environment Minister for Spain announced urgent measures that will see the country’s government plough €12 billion into tackling the long-standing drought that has hit the nation’s agricultural sector hard. Much of the latest round of funds will be used to improve water infrastructure and build desalination plants. Since the drought began in January 2022, a state of drought emergency has been declared in 24 municipalities across Catalonia, where water has become so scarce that local authorities have been forced to cut water use by 80% in agriculture and by 25% for industrial uses.