Trellising materials soar to record prices

rellising equipment, from posts and wires to ties, has not been spared from the overall increase in prices of winegrowing inputs. “The cost of all raw materials has been rising steadily since the beginning of the year”, says Jean-Marie Leclercq, manager of C.E.P Consulting and founder of the dedicated technical portal Technissage. The base index for steel used to manufacture profile posts, for example, rose from a base of 100 in 2010 to 123 in January, soaring to 195 in September.

Supply has fallen short of demand since the blast furnace shutdown during Covid and the 2020 lockdowns. “We have gone from 1.84 to 1.528 billion tonnes of steel produced between 2019 and 2020”, says Leclercq. With 1.621 billion tonnes produced between January and September 2021, production is fortunately on the rise again. The consultant hopes that prices will stabilise or even fall from next July.

Wood is also in short supply. “Many products, such as straws or cotton buds, which used to be made from plastic, are now made of paper”, explains Leclercq. Until there is a let-up in prices, he recommends that winegrowers rationalise their investments when planting. “A support wire placed 10 cm too high can lead to the purchase of stakes that are longer than required”, he says.