Enhancing wine market intelligence through economic research

Although the situation was found to be less optimistic than described in an earlier study there were signs of an industry making steady progress with its strategies. This was illustrated by a 6.5% increase in the average unit value of exports to the United States (in Australian dollar terms) despite a substantial appreciation of the Australian dollar from 2006 to 2007. While placement of quality wine through selected networks appeared to be working in the US, the United Kingdom market had been hit by large supplies of wine (from all suppliers) in price brackets traditionally dominated by Australian wine.

It was found that Australia’s reputation for value-for-money and reliable quality was also a reputation being afforded to Chile, Argentina and South Africa but there remained an edge over these countries in the UK, the US and Canada, Australia’s three most important export destinations. There had also been growth in the Netherlands and China.

The biggest negative for Australian grape and wine producers in the next decade, it was predicted, would be on the home front rather than in international markets. This was the possibility of even greater water scarcity, particularly if rainfall remained below average across catchment areas in the next two years, the report said.

A separate section of the report dealt with a micro-economic study of consumer behavior using National Drug Strategy household surveys. Correlations were made between such characteristics as earnings and type of liquor consumed, and binge drinking and age.