Imports
Wine imports into Australia increased in volume for the financial year ending 2019, up by 4% to 100.2ML (Table 13). The import value also experienced an increase of 5%, or $850 million. The average value per litre held steady with a slight increase of 1% from $8.41 to $8.49 per litre (Table 14).
France has overtaken New Zealand as the leading source of Australia’s wine imports, with a 10% increase in the past year to a total of $351 million, capturing 40% of the value of all imported wine (Table 14). New Zealand is now the second largest supplier of imported wine into in Australia, with an increase of 2%, from $331 million in 2018 to $340 million in 2019 (Table 14).
Other notable increases were wines imported from USA which grew by 21% to reach a value of $7 million, while imports from Portugal rose by 27% to the value of $6 million. The value of imported wine from Italy also increased considerably, by 16%, to a total value of $98 million. Spain’s imports held at $19 million in sales to Australian consumers in 2019. For the second consecutive year, there was a negligible 1% decrease in imports from Germany, indicating a value decline of $6 million. The total value of imported Argentinean wines also decreased, by 10% to $6 million. In 2019, imported bulk sparkling wine experienced another substantial increase, up 24%. A similar increase was observed for imported red bottled wine, up 7% from the previous year (Table 13).
Table 13. Wine imports by type (‘000 litres) by year
2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | “% Change 2018-19” | |
Bottled wine | ||||||
White | 39,390 | 36,918 | 35,583 | 37,514 | 36,454 | -3% |
Red | 16,161 | 17,641 | 16,186 | 20,347 | 21,688 | 7% |
Sparkling (bottle fermented) | 7,856 | 8,618 | 8,540 | 8,605 | 8,290 | -4% |
Bottled other* | 1,728 | 1,710 | 1,867 | 2,038 | 2,476 | 21% |
Bulk wine | ||||||
Still wine | 21,020 | 17,713 | 24,422 | 20,699 | 22,489 | 9% |
Sparkling (bulk fermented) | 4,962 | 5,180 | 5,614 | 7,054 | 8,726 | 24% |
Must | 71 | 60 | 62 | 27 | 28 | 2% |
Bulk other | 40 | 34 | 8 | 4 | 1 | -73% |
Grand Total | 91,227 | 87,874 | 92,282 | 96,287 | 100,153 | 4% |
*Includes brandy, fortified and carbonated wine |
Source: ABS imports data from Global Trade Atlas analysis by Wine Australia