Australia exports record amounts in 2003

Australia’s wine exports went up by 24% in 2003, despite the lowest grape harvest in six years, official figures show.

The worst drought on record crippled agricultural output across the country and slashed the grape harvest by 15%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported.

But the volume of wine exported went up by 24% to a record 518.6m litres in the year ended June 2003.

The UK is Australia’s single biggest market, followed by the United States. In the UK, Australia is the largest supplier of wine to the off trade, followed by France, the US, and Italy.

In terms of production, white grapes were the hardest hit with the crush falling 17.6% to 570,000 tonnes. The red grape crush slipped 9.3% to 825,000 tonnes.

Written by Adam Lechmere, and agencies