Drop In Wine Exports
Newcastle Herald
Wednesday July 9, 2008
THE high Australian dollar and "massive competition" in the world of wine resulted in a substantial drop in Hunter wine exports during the 12 months to May this year.
Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association vice-president Andrew Margan said wine industry plans to increase international sales had come four years too late and Hunter wineries were feeling the pinch. Mr Margan was commenting on Australian Bureau of Statistics figures issued on Monday that showed exports of Australian-produced wine fell 8.7 per cent in volume and 5.1 per cent in value from the same period in 2006-07. "We have not repositioned ourselves soon enough to trade up on our regional specialities," he said. "The industry always recognises the need to trade up our overseas customers but for a number of reasons didn't start doing that until about eight months ago. "While I don't believe it's too late in the short term, all the other factors, like the high Australian dollar, have dragged our export factor down dramatically." He said a strategy to market cheaper Australian wines lost its appeal when the plan was undermined by even cheaper wines introduced to the international market from Chile, South Africa and America. Mr Margan said the newly formed Hunter Valley Wine Industry Association was tackling the problem by marketing the Hunter as a whole. "Instead of putting forward 50 different marketing ideas we have packaged it into one and [are] selling the area as a specialist winemaking region," he said."The Hunter is particularly affected at the moment because we are a regional specialist and we don't make cheap wines here."Our new body will provide a cohesive, unified message, making it easy for wine consumers to understand, marketing ourselves as a regional specialist."
© 2008 Newcastle Herald
