European Union farm ministers have said they overwhelmingly support a profound reform of the continent's wine industry to tackle overproduction and increasing global competition, reports The Associated Press.

"There was total agreement on the fact that we have a wine surplus, we have a crisis in the market and we are losing market share and therefore it is clear something needs to be done," said Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU's Agriculture Commissioner after a regular ministerial meeting.

Faced with such different scenarios to tackle the crisis, the one proposing "profound reform," said Finland's Agriculture Minister Juha Korkeaoja, "was supported by just about all member countries."

The EU head office said European taxpayers had to fork out €150 million this year to distill unsold wine into industrial alcohol or biofuel to prevent a surplus undermining wine prices. Meanwhile, increasingly popular sales of wines from Australia, Chile, South Africa and other overseas producers could soon turn the EU into a net importer of wines.

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