22 Oct 2015

NZ wines to hold value despite lower harvest

11:05 am on 22 October 2015

Low grape production this year combined with a lower New Zealand dollar is pushing up the value of the country's wine exports, a report on the industry shows.

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Photo: 123RF

The Rabobank Global Wine Quarterly report says New Zealand wine growers expect the wine grape harvest will be 326,000 tonnes, down 27 percent on last year's record tonnage.

One of the report's authors, senior analyst Marc Soccio, said the country's production levels had not been this low for some time, and that was part of the reason the growth in export value was outpacing the growth in volume.

"Global demand isn't necessarily growing particularly strongly, but what we are seeing is where there is growth it tends to be at higher price points - whether it's in markets like the US and Canada, or even in markets like Australia.

"I guess that's a positive picture for New Zealand producers, just given they do tend to be, on average, more premium wine producers than in many other countries around the world."

Mr Soccio said the country's wine export volumes increased just over 9 percent in volume and 12 percent in value in the seven months to July.

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