BEIJING: Rocketing Chinese demand and new free trade agreements in Asia have helped lift the value of Australian wine exports to their highest level since before the global finance crisis.
The value of wine exports to China grew by 66 per cent to $370 million in 2015, new figures from industry body Wine Australia show.
Surging Chinese demand has combined with new free trade agreements (FTAs) with Japan and South Korea, plus gains in the key US market, to lift Australian wine exports for 2015 by 14 per cent to $2.1 billion.
The figures, released on Thursday, are the highest value achieved for Aussie wine exports since October 2007 and mark the first time growth has been recorded in every one of the country’s top 15 export markets.
It’s the second year in a row that the value of wine exports has risen, with a two per cent gain in 2014, and a welcome turnaround for winemakers who saw export dollars decline over the preceding six years.
Wine Australia said a 16 per cent increase in the value of exports to Japan was largely due to the free trade agreement that took effect in January 2015, reducing tariffs.
Exports to the smaller market of South Korea also surged in 2015, up 38 per cent to $11.7 million, with Wine Australia saying scrapping of a 15 per cent tariff under the 2014 FTA made Australia more competitive.
Another positive development is a big increase in higher-value bottled wine exports and a decline in cheap bulk wine sales, as Australia tries to build a reputation as a producer of quality mid-market and premium wines.
Accordingly, the volume of wine sold overseas increased at a lower rate of 6.4 per cent to 744 million litres for the year.
The US remains Australia’s most valuable export market, with Americans spending $443 million on wines from Down Under, up four per cent during 2015.
And the UK, Australia’s biggest market in volume terms, sales were up just 0.2 per cent to $376 million.
China is in third place but could yet overtake the UK.
Wine Australia chief executive Andreas Clark said he expected Chinese market growth to continue off the back of the China-Australia FTA signed in 2015.
When combined with fifth-placed Hong Kong, China and Hong Kong represent the biggest market for Australian wine and Wine Australia noted that in the final three months of 2015 wine exports to China exceeded UK exports by $39 million, and almost reached the same level as the US.
