Wineries pessimistic about help for fragile industry

THE New Zealand wine industry’s confidence in help from government policies has taken a massive dive since the election, the Markhams wine industry business confidence survey shows.

More than half of the wineries surveyed were running at a loss, though that was an improvement on a year ago.

Exchange rates were by far the most threatening challenge for wineries, followed by price competition, margins and another oversupply of wine.

The Markhams survey shows bad weather, bulk wine, and volatile exchange rates had given the already fragile Kiwi wine industry a glum view of the year ahead.

Trading conditions in summer 2012 were worse than those in the industry had expected a year ago, and 43 per cent of respondents expected conditions to improve in the next year, Markhams national wine spokesman Graeme Rhodes said.

When the Markhams survey was done in June last year, more than half of respondents were confident the Government would help to stimulate the industry. However the latest survey, released yesterday, shows almost 80 per cent believe they will get nothing from the Beehive.

New Zealand Winegrowers general counsel John Barker said: ‘‘It’s difficult to really understand what’s driving the sentiment, but I suspect behind it there’s a degree of pessimism about the opportunity for something to be done about excise [tax] and a degree of concern about aspects of the Alcohol Reform Bill.’’

The bill as it stood could quadruple the cost of liquor licensing due to more administration requirements, which was worrying for cellar doors, he said.

‘‘Cellar doors aren’t there sell a lot of wine.’’

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