Australian wine exports jump 10%, with shipments to China particularly strong
Australian wine exports grew by 10% to $2.31bn, with volume jumping by 7% to 778 million litres in the 2016/2017 financial year according to Wine Australia’s latest export report.
The average value of exports grew by 3% to $2.97 per litre, the highest level since 2008 – 2009. In addition, an extra $201 million in revenue was generated by Australian wine producers compared with the previous year.
As the fifth biggest wine exporter in the world, behind France, Italy, Spain and Chile, Australia outperformed each of these in its rate of export growth.
Exports from Australia were earmarked for 125 countries, and value increased in 80 of these. The top five markets are mainland China, which accounts for 26% share of export value, the United States with 20%, the UK, 15%, Canada with an 8% share and Hong Kong on 5%. Together these five markets account for nearly three quarters (74%) of the total value of Australia’s wine exports.
Growth was particularly strong to mainland China, with exports up by 44% in value to a record $607m. Shipments to the US were up by 3% to $464m, the higest value since 2011-2012. And in volume terms, the UK market is the largest, but as 80% of Australian wine is shipped in bulk it ranks third in value and exports were down 5% to $341m.
However, there was very strong growth in exports at the high end of price points, although it was more than offset by a decline at the lower end. Red wine is the dominant Australian category, accounting for 73% share of export value, ahead of white wine with 23% share and other wines with 4%.