China helps push value of Australian wine exports up
There’s been a surge in SA wine export values across the past eight years.
The value of South Australian wine exports has hit $1.79 billion, more than doubling in the past eight years.
A Wine Australia report shows SA matched the national trend of a 4 per cent year-on-year increase in export value to the end of June, despite a 6 per cent drop in export volume, showing the willingness of international markets to pay more for Australian wine.
SA also accounted for the lion’s share of Australia’s $2.86 billion in wine exports in the past financial year, with China by far our biggest market.
Exports to China nationally were up 7 per cent to $1.2 billion, dwarfing the $432 million worth of wine we sold to our next biggest market, the United States.
National export volumes decreased by 6 per cent, but there was a 10 per cent increase in the overall average value of exported wine to $3.58 per litre – the highest level since 2009.
And in the first five months of the calendar year, Australia exported more wine by value to China than France did, continuing a tussle for supremacy which has been going on since late 2017.
Wine Australia chief executive Andreas Clark said the growth in value and the declines in volume at the lower end of the price spectrum would be welcome news to the sector, which has been focusing on value rather than volume.
“The strong growth in average value is positive for the wine sector and the broader economy as it lifts returns for wine businesses and flows through to regional economies through higher grape prices,” he said. “The turnaround in exports to the US, which grew by 2 per cent in value to $432 million, is pleasing.”
Mr Clark said the United Kingdom market had experienced a slight decline with value decreasing 3 per cent to $373 million and volume declining 4 per cent to 236 million litres.
Industry stalwart and winner of the prestigious Maurice O’Shea award, Robert Hill-Smith, yesterday said SA’s wine industry expertise was now such that professionals from the “old world” wine regions were now beating a path to our door.
“The irony is that after 170 years of winemaking – or rather, 185 years of wine in Australia – that the world now visits us to see the way we are doing things and coping with climate change, whether it’s packing, viticulture management, winemaking,’’ he said.
Mr Clark said Australian wine supplies would remain tight in the medium term, after the National Vintage Report revealed the 2019 vintage was 1.73 million tonnes, 1 per cent below the 10-year average.