Australia’s wine export situation

Australia is currently the 5th largest wine exporter in the world (and also the 5th largest wine producer in the world). So, I thought that it might be interesting to have a quick look at some of their actual statistics. This can be done using the Wine Australia: Australian wine sector at a glance.

Below, I have compiled the data for the past four reports.

The volume and value of the exports have continually decreased during that time, by 11%. Wine production has also decreased during that time (not shown). This presumably simply reflects the decreasing pattern in global wine consumption (Global wine consumption is at its lowest for a long time).

The balance of the Australian exports among the three wine types maintained red wines as the predominant type, but its dominance has decreased, by 10%.

The balance among the countries being exported to has changed considerably. The United States and United Kingdom have remained about 1/6th each, with Canada about half of that.

The biggest change has been for China, and thus also for Hong Kong (a special administrative region of China). For 2 years there was a major China-Australia trade kerfuffle, resulting from terrible bilateral relations. This was (China-Australia slump continues to deepen):

tied to the Australian government’s backing of an international inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 in April 2020 ... Beijing hit back against Canberra with a slew of restrictions and tariffs targeting Australian exports of barley, coal, cotton, lobster, meat, timber, and wine. In kind, Canberra also imposed tariffs on Chinese aluminium, paper, and steel.

So, mainland China disappeared off the Australia wine export stats, although it was to some extent replaced by Hong Kong. Singapore moved up into 5th place, but dropped back when China–Australia relationships improved from 2023. Mind you, China is still a difficult wine market, for everyone (China’s wine market: Recent shocks, long-term prospects).