Australian wine exports up 10% to AU$2.82b

Australian wine exports climbed 10% to AU$2.82 billion (US$2.01 billion) in 2018, driven by strong performance from bottled wines while its North America market makes a slow recovery after months of declines.

Export volume also rose 5% to 850 million litres (the equivalent of 94 million nine-litre cases) in 2018, according to the latest figures by Wine Australia.

“These figures demonstrate strong international demand and they highlight how Australian wine exporters have worked diligently to develop and maintain international markets”, said Andreas Clark, CEO of Wine Australia.

“This demand translated into growth in almost all price segments”, he said.

During the period, bottled wine shipments increased by 7% in value to AU$2.24 billion and decreased in volume by 3% to 361 million litres (equivalent to 40 million nine-litre cases). This saw the average value of bottled wine grow by 10% to a record AU$6.20 per litre FOB.

‘Unpackaged’ wine also experienced “outstanding” growth, according to the wine trade organisation, reaching record levels in value (up 27% to AU$560 million) and volume (up 12% to 480 million litres).

Encouragingly, the value of exports above AU$10 per litre grew by 22% to AU$895 million, surpassing the value of exports in the AU$2.50–4.99 per litre segment, which is historically the largest segment of exports, for the first time. This suggests the premiumisation of Australian wine exports.

Red wine continues to be the most popular wine style exported from Australia, and value increased by 12% to AU$2.14 billion. The value of white wine exports also grew by 10% to AU$607 million.

China continues to be the biggest Australian wine buyer with AU$1.14 billion worth of wines exported during the period, an increase of 18%, though growth rate from Southeast Asia slowed during the period to only 3%.

Exports to North America are starting to level out after being in decline for more than 12 months. Australia’s second biggest market by value, the US, imported AU$425 million worth of wines, down by 5%, while Canada, its fourth biggest export market by value grew by 12% to AU$210 million.

The UK still remains Australia’s biggest market by volume with 27.3 million cases shipped, up by 10%, followed by China (19.1 million cases) and the US (17.9 million cases).