- Title: KOSOVO: Wine industry faces bitter harvest
- Date: 9th October 2010
- Summary: RAHOVEC, KOSOVO (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF VINEYARDS WORKERS HARVESTING GRAPES VARIOUS OF VINEYARD OWNER, HIDAJET SANZIBA, HARVESTING GRAPES (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) VINEYARD OWNER, HIDAJET SANZIBA, SAYING: "Before we used to sell in Montenegrin towns like Budva, Tivat and also in Sarajevo and many other places. We used to make a good living from our work, nowadays we are struggling to break even. We all depend on grape production." WORKER HARVESTING GRAPES GRAPES BEING CUT FROM VINES (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) VINEYARD OWNER, HIDAJET SANZIBA, SAYING: "Grapes must be harvested within days, if not they spoil and everything is lost. Last year we had unharvested grapes in our vineyards. This year is even worse, instead of seeing improvement it is getting worse every year, we don't know what to do." VINEYARD WORKERS HARVESTING GRAPES SANZIBA WALKING THROUGH VINEYARD "STONE CASTLE" WINERY CELLAR VARIOUS OF "STONE CASTLE" WINERY MANAGER, SHANI MULLABAZI TASTING WINE FOR POTENTIAL CROATIAN BUYERS VARIOUS OF BOTTLES OF "STONE CASTLE" WINES AND RAKI (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) MANAGER OF "STONE CASTLE" WINERY, SHANI MULLABAZI, SAYING: "It is difficult to estimate the losses we have made because once you lose a buyer it is hard to get them back. Therefore we consider the losses to be great and if we look at the figures I can say that our exports to Europe and Serbia are half what we use to have. To Serbia alone we didn't export a single bottle of wine over the last two years." EXTERIOR OF WINERY VARIOUS OF TRACTOR UNLOADING GRAPES VARIOUS OF GRAPES POURING INTO GRINDER
- Embargoed: 24th October 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations,Industry
- Reuters ID: LVAA2HJT9R5682IEUMWZQPSJDTN2
- Story Text: Grape growers in Kosovo fear their annual crop will rot on the vines as a Serbian blockade means wine producers are unwilling to buy.
Grape growers in the Kosovan wine region of Rahovec fear their annual crop of over 20,000 tonnes will go rotten as wineries refuse to buy it. Wineries argue that their wine barrels are full due to a Serbian blockade of Kosovo products.
The local farmers have started their harvest but the expected volume won't be absorbed by the local market.
In the past grape growers sold their product to the "Stone Castle" winery, but since Kosovo declared its independence in 2008 Serbia has blocked all imports from its new neighbour.
Hidajet Sanziba, a local farmer, remembers the good old days when the grape growing industry flourished.
"Before we used to sell in Montenegrin towns like Budva, Tivat and also in Sarajevo and many other places. We used to make a good living from our work, nowadays we are struggling to break even. We all depend on grape production," said Sanziba who expects to harvest some 30,000 kg of grapes this year.
"Grapes must be harvested within days, if not they spoil and everything is lost. Last year we had un-harvested grapes in our vineyards. This year is even worse, instead of seeing improvements it is getting worse every year, we don't know what to do," he said.
Vine growers organised several protests demanding that wineries accept this year's crop. In the latest protest some 20 people were injured when police intervened to stop them entering the Stone Castle winery.
After that incident the Kosovo government decided to subsidise farmers 1000 euros per hectare of wine-grape or 2,000,000 euros in total.
Stone Castle in Rahovec is the only one of four state-owned wineries dating back to the Yugoslav era to have been privatised successfully. Two Albanian brothers living in the United States bought it in 2006, and it now produces 90 percent of Kosovo's wine.
In the 1980s before the wars that broke up Yugoslavia, Stone Castle produced 60 million litres of wine a year, of which 40 million were shipped by train to Germany.
Angry at Kosovo's declaration of independence, Serbia banned Kosovo-marked products and barred trans-shipments to other Western European countries, felling custom and increasing Stone Castle's transport costs by 25 per cent in one blow.
"It is difficult to estimate the losses we have made because once you lose a buyer it is hard to get them back. Therefore we consider the losses to be great and if we look at the figures I can say that our exports to Europe and Serbia are half what we use to have, to Serbia alone we didn't export a single bottle of wine over the last two years,'' said Stone Castle winery manager, Shani Mullabazi.
Wine-making's roots run deep in this region, where 2nd century wine amphorae have been found by archaeologists.
The continental climate, fields at an altitude of 300-400 metres and more than 200 sunny days a year make Kosovo a good place for wine production. But half of the old vineyards were destroyed during and after the 1998-99 war.
One of Europe's poorest countries with a population of two million, Kosovo now exports just a tenth of its total imports.
Serbian exports to Kosovo fetch 220 million euros annually, it is the second biggest exporter after Macedonia. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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