CANBERRA: In the 12 months to 30 September 2015, the value of Australian wine exports rose 8 per cent to A$1.96 billion, the strongest rate of growth since export value peaked in October 2007 according to the Export Report September 2015 released today by Wine Australia.
In a sign of much needed improvement in profitability for Australian wine, the rate of value growth is currently outpacing volume which increased 5 per cent to 734 million litres.
Wine Australia’s Chief Executive Officer Andreas Clark said, ‘these export results are unambiguously good news for our grape and wine community. Clearly it’s still early days and the improvement we’ve seen in exports in the last 12 months hasn’t yet flowed through to the grape growing community at large but there are pockets of growers who reported improved prices in vintage 2015 and we hope to see this trend continue next vintage.’
In the last 12 months, the average value of exports above A$7.50/litre went up 7 per cent to a record A$15.45/litre.
This pattern of growth was seen across many of the premium price segments. Exports of Australia’s highest-priced wines (above A$50/litre) rose 54 per cent to a record A$133 million. While the segment accounts for only 0.2 per cent of total exports, it’s worth 7 per cent of total value.
Mr Clark said the figures indicated that Wine Australia’s long-term strategic focus on Australia’s distinctive fine wine offering was being embraced by our winemakers and global customers.
‘We’re seeing the strongest rates of growth in our premium price segments. Wines above A$10 per litre grew in value 28 per cent to A$426 million, a record for this segment. Wines in the A$20-$50 segment increased 13 per cent to A$88 million.’ The average value of bottled exports also increased 4 per cent to A$5 per litre. In contrast, the average value of bulk exports continued to fall, down 4 per cent.
