CANBERRA: Wine Australia will work hard to improve producer access to the United States, as exports continue to slide in the industry’s most valuable market. The Wine Australia export report for the 12-months to June this year shows exports rose overall in both value and volume by 5 per cent.
It is the first time export value has risen on a financial year basis since 2006/7. Exports to Asia jumped by 26 per cent to a record $600 million. But exports fell in three of the largest markets for Australian wine – the UK, US and Canada.
Value of Australian wine exports to the US fell by 8 per cent in the past 12 months, but it remains the most lucrative market for Australian wine, worth $415 million a year. Wine Australia chief executive officer Andreas Clark said the peak industry body was committed to improving the performance of Australian wine in the US.
Mr Clark said he hoped a formal “market entry program” in the US would improve the performance of Australian wine there. “We’re bringing a new resource into that market,” he said.
“It’s really about helping wine exporters commercialise opportunities.” Mr Clarke said the US was a “complicated” market. “Every state is quite different, it’s highly regulated and it takes a lot of skill to navigate and set up commercial relationships,” he said.
Mr Clark said Wine Australia would have someone stationed in the US to help exporters enter the market. Australian wine had its biggest surge in value in the Chinese export market, with 32 per cent growth.
But Mr Clark said overall performance in Asian markets was impressive. “We’ve seen record growth in Hong Kong as well, up 28 per cent, growth in Japan, and a whole host of other Asian markets, including Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and the Philippines as well,” he said. Mr Clark said the strong Asian performance was promising.
