Increasing fuel costs leading to reduction in supplies and higher prices for bottles.
While many in the UK may be more concerned about the current fruit and vegetable shortage in the nation’s supermarkets, across the Channel another dearth threatens supplies of a product that some may deem to be just as important.
French wine producers are currently struggling to locate enough glass bottles to contain their 2022 vintage, with one brand representative admitting that the glass shortage is now becoming “acute”, the diminishing numbers leading to supplies becoming more expensive.
One manufacturer, Owens Illinois (O-I Glass), is ceasing production in France of a particular bottle type, with the shortages of glass beginning during the Covid crisis when furnaces stopped running at full capacity, and exacerbated by the recent massive jump in fuel costs.
The problem came up at the recent Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris event in a discussion with a representative of the Bijou brand of French rosé at Crush Wines, Edward Vellacott highlighting the increasing cost of bottles; O-I Glass facility has seen its €17million annual fuel bill increasing to €75million, and certain bottles that cost €0.35 in 2021 are now priced at more than €0.70.
