In Rio Grande
do Sul, the crop
amounted to one
million tons
he says. Research work conducted by univer-
sity professor Marcio Czepak reveals that, cur-
rently, there are 564 small-scale family farms
thatcultivatevineyardsintheState,wherethe
areadevotedtothecropwentup36.67%.
Loiva clarifies that the production of
grapes in Brazil in 2017 reached the big-
gest volume in the history of vitiviniculture,
amounting to 1,680,020 tons. In Rio Grande
do Sul, the volume remained close to one
million tons, a volume bigger than the en-
tire national production up to 1999, in spite
ofareductionintheplantedarea.“ThisState,
which in 2016 had experienced a drop of
52.79% from 2015, due to bad weather con-
ditions, in 2017 production was up 131.34%
from2016,and9.21%from2015,whenanor-
mal cropwasharvested”, sheexplains.
Santa Catarina, where equally produc-
tionhaddecreasedin2016,forsimilarweath-
er related reasons, in 2017 production was
up 94.39%, but 4.8% smaller compared to
2015. The researcher refers to the good per-
formance in Pernambuco, which produced
390.3 thousand tons of grapes in 2017, up
60.64%fromthepreviousyear.Itisalsoworth
mentioning the higher production volume in
2017 in the states of Minas Gerais and Espíri-
toSanto,of16.45%and46.16%,respectively,
compared to2016”, she recalls.
The national production of grapes des-
tined for processing (wine, juice and deriva-
tives)amountedto818,783millionkilograms
in 2017, representing only 48.74% of the en-
tire national grape volume. The remaining
portionof thecrop (51.26%)wasdestined for
fresh consumption. The amount of grapes
processed formakingwine and juice in2016
was smaller due to adverse climate condi-
tions,withstrong impact on thevineyards in
Rio Grande do Sul. In 2017, weather condi-
tions were favorable, resulting into the big-
gest grape crop on record.
l
EXPORTS ON THE RISE
The overall balance of the Brazilian vitiviniculture sector demonstrates that
shipments abroad reached a total of US$ 109.94 million in 2017, up 42.11% from
the previous year. Table grapes soared 44.4% in quantity shipped abroad and
47.43% in revenue, in that same year. Wine exports also soared, 61.78% in quan-
tity and 59.58% in revenue.
“Nevertheless, grape juice and sparklingwines experienced a decrease in their for-
eign sales in 2017. Compared to the previous year, there was a reduction of 19.08% in
the amount of grape juice shipped abroad and 8.58% in revenue”, explains research-
er Loiva Maria Ribeiro de Mello, fromEmbrapa Grape andWine. “The sparkling wines,
whichwere already little representative, experienced a decrease of 50% in their sales”.
Brazilian imports reached US$ 453.28 million in 2017, up 22.4% from 2016.
Of this amount, 74.88% refer to wine imports, which were up 33.89% in quanti-
ty and 30.09% in revenue.
83
NAS VIDEIRAS
•
THE VINEYARDS
Produçãonacional deuvas (toneladas)
Estado
2015
2016
2017
Rio Grande do Sul
876.215
413.640
956.913
Pernambuco
237.367
242.967
390.300
São Paulo
142.631
144.110
133.118
Santa Catarina
69.118
33.849
65.800
Paraná
69.035
66.000
56.295
Bahia
77.408
62.740
51.090
Minas Gerais
12.615
11.224
13.070
Espírito Santo
2.327
2.469
3.608
Paraíba
2.196
2.636
2.620
Goiás
4.008
2.566
1.974
Outros
4.382
4.858
5.232
Total
1.497.302
987.059 1.680.020
Fonte: IBGE. Elaboração: Embrapa Uva e Vinho.
