Statistics from Wine Australia, the authority of the Australian government that regulates the Aussie wine industry, show that the nation’s wine exports have gone up by 16%, reaching $2.65 billion in value. This is the highest value in a decade. The volume of wine exports has gone up by 10% to 844 million litres.
Advantage Australia
With China being the largest market for Aussie wines since 2016, exports to The Dragon continue to go up and recently breached the $1bn mark (including those to Macau and Hong Kong). This figure is 51% more than last year’s. This high increase in exports can be attributed to the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) which has resulted in the significant reduction of wine tariffs. It’s worth mentioning here that tariffs will be completely eliminated by January 2019. This will give Australian exporters a further advantage over those from other key wine producing nations like France, Spain and Italy. Thanks to ChAFTA, imported wine is more approachable for the Chinese and is increasingly consumed by the middle-class. This has resulted in exceptional growth at “all price points”, as reported by Wine Australia.
Rising exports
Andreas Clarke, CEO, Wine Australia was quoted as saying that a low production of wine in the northern hemisphere coupled with the great-quality of Aussie wines are the causes behind the recent increase in demand of bulk wine. The result is a 19% surge in the value of exported bulk wine and 10% growth in its volume. Clarke noted that every country in the island nation’s list of top 10 destinations for bulk wine saw an increase in the average value. This is especially true for Germany, which is the largest wine importer in the world. The average bulk wine value went up by 20% – from $0.87 to $1.05 for every litre.
Clarke also added that the previous dry summer has resulted in the production of premium quality grapes, which in turn means a great vintage is about to follow. This essentially means that there is no stopping to the growth of Australia’s wine exports, at least in the near foreseeable future!
