Australian wine exports up by 11% at $1.93bn

Australian wine exports have increased to A$2.71bn ($1.93bn) in 2017-18, which is an increase of 11% compared to the 2016-17 period, according to figures released by Wine Australia.

By 30 September, wine exports increased by 5% in volume to 842 million litres.

Wine Australia CEO Andreas Clark said: “Today’s export figures show that there has been strong and sustainable growth over the past 12 months, delivering the third year of double-digit growth.

“These figures are the result of a lot of hard work by Australia’s 2,401 wine exporters, the people who spend time in the market to build their brands, distribution networks and awareness of all that Australian wine has to offer consumers.

“Australia exports more than 60% of the wine we produce, so it’s important that we continue to build our export markets. Wine Australia is currently delivering Growing Wine Export workshops in regional Australia to help new and experienced exporters to grow their exports.”

Shipments of bottled wine increased by 8% in value to A$2.16bn ($1.53bn) and 2% in volume to 366 million litres.

The shipments of unpackaged wine grew by 23% in value to A$525m ($372m), with a 9% increase in volume to 468 million litres.

Wine Australia noted that wine exports grew to all but one of the major destination regions, and a significant growth was registered in Northeast Asia, where exports grew to A$1.14bn ($808m). In North America, an A$16m ($11m) increase in exports to Canada only partially offset an A$38m ($26m) decline in exports to the US.

The statutory authority also revealed that there were increases in the average value of wine exported per litre, with a 7% increase for bottled wine to A$5.90 ($4.19), a 13% increase of unpackaged wine to A$1.12 ($0.8), and a 5% increase of all wine exported to A$3.21 ($2.28).