The Chronicle

Australian wine exports booming

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AUSTRALIAN wine exports to a single country during a 12-month period have topped $1 billion for the first time.

China imported

$1.04 billion worth of Australian wine for the year to March and now accounts of 40 per cent of total wine exports from Australia.

In terms of volume, China overtook the US to take second place among overseas buyers of Australian wine, behind the UK in top spot.

Wine Australia chief executive officer Andreas Clark said China was Australia’s best market in terms of premium wines.

“But we have a very good spread of wines going into China, both at the commercial end but also it is our biggest destinatio­n for premium wines,” Mr Clark said. “There are similar volumes going into both the US and China, but China accounts for $1 billion and the US $439 million.”

Mr Clark said Australia’s previous record for exports was $987 million to the UK in 2005 and $962 million to the US in 2007. In 2007, Australian wine exports topped $3 billion. The past 12 months saw exports reach the highest level since 2009: $2.65 billion.

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