Vineyards’ restructuring and conversion through national support programmes-the case of Romania

Wine industry is considered to be a traditional industry, where the potential for growth is still important for the existing wine producers and new entrants, based on strategies for increasing international awareness, technological innovation and financing programmes. The paper aims to explore the evolution of the determinants of wine and vineyards industry from a macroeconomic perspective, in order to assess the efficiency of the National Support Programmes, financed under the European Union funds. The exploration intends to cover the tendency of the following indicators: areas under vines, areas under vines for wines, wine producers, wine consumers, wine imports and wine exports, in order to explore new opportunities for growth and develop future orientation. Moreover, the analysis intends to address the importance of National Support Programmes 2009-2013; 2014-2018; 2019-2023, whose evolution is currently considered a key research question in the field. Romania is an important European country from the point of view of wine industry, the various wines it produces are known for their quality. With an area of around 180,000 ha cultivated with vines which, in 2016, represented 1.42% of its agricultural area and 2.28% of arable area, Romania ranks the 5 position in the European Union, after Spain, Italy, France and Portugal. However, the countries that took advantage of the financial funds allocated to the National Support Programmes, were: Italy, Spain and France, which together spent more than 70% of the total amount for each of these programmes.


Areas under vines
The aim of the study is the exploration of wine and vineyards' related indicators in order to assess the efficiency of National Support Programmes, financed by the European Unions' funds.
At the worldwide level, the total area under vines had an oscillatory dynamic with a decreasing trend, from 7,594 million ha in 2007 to 7,454 million ha in 2016 (International Organisation of Vine and Wines, 2019). Europe represents the largest continent regarding the area under vines, representing a percentage between 48.88%-55.01% from the total area under vines (Table 1). At the worldwide level, Peru registered the highest growth of vineyards, from 25,000 ha in 2014 to 32,000 ha in 2018. Mexico registered a growth of 24% regarding the spread of vineyards, from 29,000 ha in 2014 to 37,000 ha in 2018.
On the other hand, the highest decrease in vineyards was represented by Iran with -29%, in 2018 (153,000 ha) compared to 2014 (216,000 ha). Ukraine also registered a decrease in vineyards area with -14% in 2018 (42,000 ha) compared to 2014 (49,000 ha) (Figure 1). Making the same analysis at the level of the European Union, regarding the area under vines, the decrease rate in vineyards is reduced significantly. Thus, the area under vines was reduced with 129,948 ha (3.88%) during the period 2010-2019 (Table 2).  Bulgaria  75,591  68,847  60,328  60,299  59,701  59,988  60,418  60,583  61,251  60,862   Czechia  17,361  17,471  17,366  17,480  17,631  17,673  17,623  17,720  16,811  18,038   Germany  102,692  102,671  102,598  102,810  102,856  102,858  102,752  102,727  102,939  103,173   Greece  67,851  67,333  66,474  65,330  65,020  64,013  62,773  62,728  62,804  63,181  The world production of grapes at the level of the year 2018 was 77.8 million of tones, with 57% production of wine grapes, 36% production of table grapes and 7% of dried grapes. (http://www.oiv.int/public/medias/6782/oiv-2019-statistical-report-on-world-vitiviniculture.pdf, accessed on 10.03.2020) At the level of the European Union's states, analyzing the dynamics of areas under vines for wine, four of 14 countries registered a growth in 2019 compared to 2010: Austria (7.27%), Czech Republic (3.90%), Romania (0.81%) and Germany (0.47%) (Figure 2). During the analysed period, the world's areas under vines underwent mutations, both in terms of the number of hectares and the assortment structure. Thus, at the global level, the area under vines in operation is relatively constant. On the other hand, at the E.U. level, there are major differences in surface dynamics. In the first case, the explanation comes from the fact that, if in some parts of Europe, there is a decrease in the areas under vines, in other parts of the world, such as Asia (China, Thailand, Vietnam), there is a concern for growing grapes.
In the case of E.U. countries, the technological development, associated to an increase of the emancipation degree of the population, led to an increase in the consumption preferences for the highest 10,00% quality of wine. Consequently, there have been situations in which, considerable quantities of wine, of medium and below average quality, could not be capitalized, in the case of large wine producing countries. Thus, unsold stocks appeared, which had to be distilled, in order to protect the wine industry and empty the storage space for the new harvest. Schemes have been set up to support wine producers, by ensuring payments for storage and distillation, together with the commitments of the states to take over stocks of distilled wine. The perpetuation of this situation has led to the creation of agricultural policies through which, Member States provide financing in the form of deforestation premiums for grape-producing vineyards, from which table wines are obtained.
At the same time, financial support was provided for viticulturally reconversion, in the sense of replanting significantly smaller areas of grape varieties under quality wines. Thus, according to the analysis made, the area under vines has decreased by about 130,000 ha at the E.U. level, since 2007.
From a financial point of view, despite the current conditions, the performance of the wine chain has increased, on the one hand, due to the higher price of quality wines and, on the other hand, due to the increase in technology and mechanization, especially in grape production.

Wine production and consumption
The global wine production at the level of the year 2018 was 292 million of hectoliters. Hungary registered the highest growth of wine production, from 2.4 million hl in 2014 to 3.6 million hl in 2018. Austria registered a growth of 40% regarding the production of wine, from 2 million hl in 2014 to 2.8 million hl in 2018. Romania registered a growth of 38% regarding the production of wine, from 3.7 million hl in 2014 to 5.1 million hl in 2018.
On the other hand, the highest decrease in wine production was represented by China with -33%, in 2018 (9.1 million hl) compared to 2014 (13.5 million hl). Greece also registered a decrease in wine production with -21% in 2018 (2.2 million hl) compared to 2014 (2.8 million hl) ( Figure 3).  (Table 3).
The areas under vines for wines with Controlled Designation of Origin underwent variations at the level of the European Union's countries in 2019 compared to 2020. Thus, two of the 14 European Union's states had a growth: Austria (7.27%), Czech Republic (4.18%) ( Figure 4). Also, the proportion of the area under vines for wines with Controlled Designation of Origin in the total underwent variations in 2019 ( Figure 5).   In Romania, based on the degree of quality and ripeness of the grapes, the wines can be (https://domeniulbogdan.ro/blog/cum-clasificam-vinurile-si-ce-soiuri-de-struguri-sunt-cele-mai-cautate/ ): • Table wines, with an alcoholic strength between 8.5 and 9.55. These wines are intended for current consumption.
• Wines of superior quality, which have on the label the following notations: VS, IG or VSIG-with reference to the geographical origin, as well as the mention of the grape variety from which they were produced. They have an alcoholic strength of at least 9.5%.
• Wines with controlled designation of origin represent the wines DOC of the first quality, with a strength of at least 11% and a sugar content of 190 grams per liter. At the same time, these can also be wines of controlled designation of origin by steps of quality (

Competitiveness growth of wine producers through the National Support Programme 2009-2013
In 2008, the reform of the wine market was organized in order to increase the competitiveness of the wine producers from the European Union, on one hand and, on the other hand, to achieve a balance between the demand and the supply of wine, according to Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2008. However, in 2013, another reform took place, which aimed at harmonizing, rationalizing and simplifying the provisions of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), adopted during the previous reforms.
The National Support Programme was the instrument by which the member States had the opportunity to customize their financial support, depending on their specific situation. Till the present times, two support programmes were already implemented (2009-2013 and 2014-2018) and one program is still going on for the period 2019-2023.
Analysing the National Support Programme 2009-2013, the financial allocation was 5,315,092 thousand euro for 11 measures ( The data from the Table 4 reveals that the most substantial allocation is related to the measure aimed at restructuring and reconversion of the areas under vines, respectively the elimination of hybrid wines from plantations through conversion with noble vines. The phenomenon of replacing the hybrid vine surface with rooted grafts led to plantations with noble vines, as well as to the replacement of old vines with those from modern new clones. This measure had a major contribution to the rejuvenation of the vineyard heritage and to the modernization of its structure, improving the structure of the grape varieties based on the market requirements. This can be strengthened by the fact that a vine plantation remains in exploitation for more than 40 years. The European Union member states took advantage of the financial funds allocated to the National Support Programme 2009-2013, especially Italy, Spain and France, which together spent 78.72% of the total amount for this programme (Figure 9).
The results of the National Support Programme 2009-2013 at the level of the European Union countries were (Figure 10): • An area of 307,979 ha was reconverted; • An initial budget of 2,291,484 thousand euro, majorated to 2,343,105 thousand ha; • An average financial allocation per ha of 7,608 euro/ ha.  • By-product distillation. The European Union member states took advantage of the financial funds allocated to the National Support Programme 2014-2018, especially Italy, Spain and France, which together spent 77.76% of the total amount for this programme (Figure 11).

Competitiveness growth of wine producers through the National Support Programme 2019-2023
Analysing the National Support Programme 2019-2023, the financial allocation was 6,041,436 thousand euro for 9 measures ( • By-product distillation. The European Union member states took advantage of the financial funds allocated to the National Support Programme 2019-2023, especially Spain, Italy and France, which together spent 80.33% of the total amount for this programme at 30 th of June 2020 ( Figure 13).

Competitiveness of wine producers from Romania
Romania is an important European country from the point of view of wine industry, the various wines it produces are known for their quality. With an area of around 180,000 ha cultivated with vines which, in 2016, represented 1.42% of its agricultural area and 2.28% of arable area, Romania ranks the 5 th position in the European Union, after Spain, Italy, France and Portugal. (https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farmingfisheries/farming/facts-and-figures/markets/overviews/market-observatories/wine#overview, accessed on 10.03.2020) According to the data of the National Institute of Statistics (INS), the total area occupied by vineyards decreased by 5.40%, from 187,629 ha in 2007 to 177,497 ha in 2018 ( Figure 14).
Analysing the area under productive hybrid vines, we can observe a negative trend during the analysed period, as a result of the implementation of the National Support Programme for viticulture 2007-2013 and the National Support Program 2014-2018 for Romania in the wine sector.
The decrease of the areas under hybrid vineyards leads to the premises of qualitative development of the Romanian wine market, also sustained by the favourable legislative framework to the increase in areas under grafted vines.

Conclusions
This study explores the determinants of vine and wine industry, by analysing the impact of the National Support Programmes 2009Programmes -20132014-2018-2023. The National Support Programme was the instrument by which the member States had the opportunity to customize their financial support, depending on their specific situation. Till the present times, two support programmes were already implemented (2009-2013 and 2014-208) and one program is still in progress for the period 2019-2023. Romania is an important European country from the point of view of wine industry, the various wines it produces are known for their quality. However, the countries that took the most of the advantage of the financial funds allocated through the National Support Programmes, were: Italy, Spain and France, which together spent more than 70% of the total amount for each of these programs.

Authors' Contributions
Conceptualization: NM, GL, MMT and CD; Formal analysis: NM, GL, MMT and CD; Methodology: NM, GL, MMT and CD; Validation: NM, GL, MMT and CD; Writing -original draft: NM and CD; Writing -review and editing: RL and MMT. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.