Agriculture & Food

According to an Australian website reported on July 26, the Chinese market was once a gold mine for Australian wine makers, as Chinese drinkers consume A$1.1 billion (A$1 is about 4.7 yuan - this website note) Australian wine every year. But Chinese consumption of Australian wine is less than A$25 million.

According to reports, Australian wine exports to China fell by 95.9 per cent year-on-year in the last financial year to A$24.6 million.

The latest export data released by Wine Australia shows that China is no longer the largest export destination for Australian wine, and now accounts for only 1% of Australian wine exports.

In addition, the average price of Australian wine sold to China is now down 64.8 per cent year-on-year to $4.09 a litre, the report said. That has all but wiped out a market that could once digest Penfolds Grange and other fine wines sent by Australian winemakers.

For many years, Australian wines have been very popular in China. Just before the Covid-19 pandemic, Australian wine sales to China reached A$1.1 billion, with Chinese drinkers seeing Australian wine as one of their favourite products, almost displacing French wine in China.

In the year to June 30, 2022, Australian wine exports fell by 10 per cent to 625 million litres, according to the latest export figures from Wine Australia; total prices fell by 19 per cent to A$2.08 billion.

The current market with the highest value of Australian wine exports is the United States, with exports worth A$436 million.