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France will spend $216 million to destroy surplus wine and turn it into hand sanitizer

The country has seen a fall in demand for wine due to inflation, change in consumption patterns

FILE - In this Oct.3 2019 file photo, wine bottle are seen in a wine shop in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, File) (Kamil Zihnioglu, Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Jesus may have turned water into wine, but France has a plan to turn wine into hand sanitizer.

The French government will spend $216 million to destroy a surplus of wine in an effort to support struggling wine producers.

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The country has seen a fall in demand for wine due to inflation and a change in consumption patterns.

The excess wine will be sold to distillers who will destroy it and turn it into industrial alcohol that can be used in other products like hand sanitizer, cleaning products and perfume.

First announced in June, the French Ministry of Agriculture expanded the program last week due to high demand from wine producers.

Wine consumption is down 15% in France and much of Europe is seeing a similar trend, CNN reported. Meanwhile, it’s been reported that France is one of the fastest-growing non-alcoholic drink markets.


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