Australian wine export value grew by 7 per cent to $2.22 billion in 2016 and average value grew by 6 per cent, driven by exports to Asia.
It's the highest average value since 2009, and was driven by bottled exports, particularly those at higher price points, according to the Wine Australia Export Report December 2016.
Bottled exports grew by 10 per cent to $1.8 billion, and the average value of bottled exports hit a calendar year record, up by five per cent to $5.48 per litre free-on-board (FOB).
“Last year, Australia’s most premium wines took centre stage. Our highest priced wines - $10 or more per litre FOB - achieved record value in 2016, up an impressive 19 per cent to $574 million,” Wine Australia CEO Andreas Clark said.
“This increase was driven by demand across all of our major export markets but particularly in the Northeast Asia region.”
“In another promising sign that we’re starting to see commercial benefits from an improved perception and increasing demand for our finest wines, the majority of Australian wine exporters (70 per cent) saw value growth in 2016,” Clark said.
Growth in the premium price segments added more than $93 million in value in 2016. Exports priced $10 and more per litre FOB were up in mainland China by 47 per cent, the US by 23 per cent, the UK by 25 per cent and Canada by 9 per cent. Only Hong Kong was down by 12 per cent.
Exceptional growth to mainland China continued, with the value of exports up 40 per cent to a record $520 million, according to the report.
In 2016, bulk wine exports declined by 2 per cent to $400 million, soft-pack exports fell by 5 per cent to $14 million and exports in alternative packaging such as PETs decreased by 11 per cent to $4 million.
