Woops! Australian wine exports dip dramatically

It is not the news the Australian wine industry was hoping to hear.

Australian wine exports declined by 10% by volume to 625 million litres and 19% in value to $2.08 billion in the year ended June 30, 2022, Wine Australia’s latest Export Report reveals.

The decline in volume and value was not unexpected, as it was largely the result of the continued impact of the significant reduction in exports to mainland China, driven by high deposit tariffs imposed in November 2020.

This is expected to remain a significant influence on the moving annual total data of Australian wine exports until late 2022.

During the 2021–22 financial year, the operating environment for many Australian wine exporters had been extremely challenging with the significant decline in exports to mainland China, the ongoing impact of the pandemic - including severe shipping delays and increased freight costs - along with rising inflation, business costs and interest rates.

Wine Australia Manager, Market Insights, Peter Bailey said that while the total data showed declines, there were some encouraging signs in key and emerging markets.

“When mainland China is excluded from the data, exports increased by 5% in value to $2.06 billion, an increase of $105 million - the highest value since 2009–2010," he said. "This is despite volume declining by 3% to 619 million litres.

"The value growth for these markets was driven by a 9% increase in average value to $3.32 FOB per litre.

“The key contributors to the value growth included Singapore, the United States, Malaysia, Thailand, India and New Zealand.

In 2021–22, Australian wine exporters shipped wine to 113 destination markets. At a region-level, the most significant growth came from exports to south-east Asia, up 51% to $314 million, but also to North America, up 5% to $612 million, and the Middle East, up 48% to $20 million.

The top five markets by value were the US, UK, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore.