AUSTRALIAN WINE EXPORTS REACH THE $3 BILLION MARK

As WSD reported last month, Australian wine exports have topped $3 billion in a year for the first time, according to the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation. To be exact, 805 million liters valued at $3.007 billion were exported in the year ending July. Export wine sales grew 8%, while volume rose 10% in the 12-months to the end of July.

What components helped give the Aussie industry a boost? Increased demand from the US and China, along with a rise in bottled wine sales (say bye-bye to bulk). Soon, says the AWBC, the US will replace the UK as the most profitable market. In the meantime, Australia’s most valuable export markets look like this: UK ($974 million), the US ($972 million), Canada ($273 million), New Zealand ($102 million) and Ireland ($71 million). Markets by volume look similar: UK (285 million liters), ahead of the US (222 million), Canada (51 million), Germany (41 million) and New Zealand (35 million).

Bottled red wine saw sales increase 30 million liters with the average value per liter jumping 10%. Bottled white wine sales also grew slightly, experiencing a volume increase of 6%. Bulk wine shipments, meanwhile, are losing some of their previous zest. Volume growth for the year reached 20% compared with 50% in 2006, while the average price per liter declined 9%.

"To achieve strong overall growth without relying so heavily on bulk sales is an important trend," said the chief executive of the AWBC, Sam Tolley. "It shows that consumers are appreciating the diversity of the Australian wine offering and that our marketing messages are getting through."