French wine makers demand state help

NARBONNE, France - Thousands of wine makers have protested in southern France to press the government to help them cope with a drop in domestic consumption and fierce competition from "New World" rivals.

Around 5000 people marched through Narbonne near the border with Spain and thousands more protested in Beziers, Nimes and Avignon to demand government aid to help them claw back business lost to New World rivals such as Australia and Chile.

"We are undergoing a crisis without precedent," said Michel Allemand, an official at the Gard region's agriculture association. "The time to find solutions for tomorrow is now or never."

France and Italy are the world's top winemakers, with France accounting for around a fifth of world production, but New World countries have been increasing their market share.

Falling consumption among a more health-conscious population has also hit French wine makers. Over the last 40 years, alcohol consumption per head has fallen by more than a third in France.

"The sector would like the state to look at it differently and regard wine making as one of the pillars of the French economy," said Yves d'Amecourt, secretary general of a Bordeaux wine-growing trade union.

The French wine sector provides some 75,000 jobs.

D'Amecourt hoped President Jacques Chirac, who leaves France on Thursday to visit Thailand and India, would use his trips abroad to "make as much of an effort to promote French wine as he does to sell Airbuses (aeroplanes) or TGVs (trains)".

Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau has urged France's wine makers to find ways to woo consumers. The government also vowed in December to help them market their products abroad.

- REUTERS