Spanish wineries are losing approximately 500 million euros a year in international transfers

But the reality in wineries is different: tighter margins, rising production costs, and more expensive logistics mean every euro counts. In this context, there's one cost that almost no one measures, but that everyone pays: international transfers.

For years I've seen how companies in international finance optimize their operations down to the smallest detail. However, a blind spot persists in the Spanish wine sector: payments from abroadMost wineries use their usual, comfortable and traditional, but often expensive, bench.

For example, a winery that exports €500.000 a year to the UK could receive 1,5% less per transfer due to the hidden spread applied by the bank. In a €100.000 transaction, this means losing around €1.500 just due to the exchange rate difference, plus service and management fees, reaching a total cost close to 3.000 eurosIf ten transfers are made per year, the cost can reach 30.000 euros.

Applying a conservative cost of 1,5% to Spanish wine exports, the aggregate cost could be between 450 and 550 million of euros annually. This is not a case of bank bad faith, but rather a lack of measurement: these losses do not appear as an explicit cost in the profit and loss statement; they simply they dilute within the cost of currency exchangeMany CFOs control every penny of every bottle or kilometer of transport, but are unaware of the real impact of spreads on their international transfers.

The good news is that solutions exist. Specialized providers of international payments, regulated by organizations such as the Bank of Spain and British FCAThey operate with exchange rates adjusted to the interbank market, not with hidden spreads. A winery that uses them can reduce transfer costs by between 50% and 70%, without changing banks or complicating its operations: all it needs is a separate tool for international payments. My advice to any winery that exports more than 500.000 euros per year: review your last ten international transfers, compare the exchange rate applied with the market rate and calculate the spread, to that you have to add the commission that your bank is charging you, these They tend to be high, between 1% and 2,5%, Multiply this by your annual volume and observe the impact. If you're surprised, it's time to act.

At the sector level, I propose a rigorous and verifiable study to measure, quantify, and provide precise figures. Spain produces exceptional wines and exports them to the most demanding markets. Now we must demonstrate the same excellence in the financial management of those exports. In a global market where every tenth of a percent of margin counts, every euro lost along the way is a euro not reinvested in the vineyard, the winery, or the team. Multiplied by thousands of transactions and hundreds of wineries, that euro becomes a significant sum.

Vicente Martínez López,

CEO IPAyments – International Payments Advisory.