Wine exports to China soar to $1b
AUSTRALIAN wine exports to China have hit $1 billion for the first time, with one producer saying opportunities remain rife in the growing market.
Wine Australia says the value of wine exports to China, including Hong Kong and Macau, surged to $1.04 billion in the year to March.
That tally is up 51 per cent on the same period a year earlier.
The industry umbrella group said exports to China grew as wine tariffs fell again in January, in line with the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
Rod Hill, who is general manager at Mt Cotton’s Sirromet Wines, founded by Gold Coast businessman Terry Morris, said the company is in its ninth year of exporting to China.
“It has changed so much in that time. When we started exporting to China average annual consumption per person was about 100ml per person per year. But the thing is, it is now only up to a bottle per person. If you look at Australia, we’re sitting at 20 litres of wine per person. So you can see, with the market developing, it is a great opportunity for all Australian vineyards,” he said.
Sirromet focuses on the premium end of the market, rather than bulk wine, which has been the biggest beneficiary of the tariff reduction.
“However, all ships rise with the tide, and while we are on a much smaller volume, we have seen a significant increase in revenue in the time we have been doing business in China,” Mr Hill said.
“Our style of wine, being from a cool climate, is more done in that European, soft, elegant, style, which the Chinese palette seems to be very fond of. They are definitely full bodied reds and on the dry end of the spectrum.”
Sirromet, unlike other producers, is not stocked widely in bottleshops in China.
Instead, the wines are sent director to the consumer.
“We focus on inbound wine tourism to Sirromet. We work really closely with Chinese outbound tour companies, and we have gone from a few hundred five years ago to expecting 10,000 Chinese visitors this year,” he said.
“That is how our model works. We attract them here to the winery, get them to experience what we do here, and then we supply our wines directly to them when they get back to China.”
After China, the second biggest market by value was the US. Britain, Canada and New Zealand followed as a our next biggest wine markets. The value of both bottled wine and bulk wine exports increased. Total wine volume grew by 10 per cent.