Australian Wine Industry Overview

World Comparisons

Provisional data from the Office International de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV) indicate that world grape production decreased by 2% in 2001 to 61,185 million tones (see table). The top four countries (Italy, France, United States and Spain) accounted for 46% of this production. Australia moved from 11th place to 10th place, surpassing Germany.

Australia has surpassed Germany as well in wine production and now ranks as the 6th largest wine producer in the world (see table). World wine production dropped to 26,760 ML in 2001 from 27,491 in 2000. Argentina, Australia and Portugal showed production increases in 2001, while the other top 10 producers showed decreases.

Italy is the world's number one wine exporter spot and exports nearly five times more wine than Australia, which has surpassed the United States and is now the world's 4th largest exporter (see table). Australian exports grew by 33% from 2000 to 2001 while South African exports grew by 29% and Chile by 14.9%.

Worldwide wine consumption decreased marginally from 21,936 ML in 2001 to 21,892 ML in 2002 and remains considerably less than 1979 when world consumption was 28,656 ML. France and Italy continue to account for 29% of the world wine consumption while Europe as a whole accounts for 70% of consumption. French consumption grew by 2.4% while Italian consumption decreased by 1.0%. The United Kingdom showed the greatest growth in consumption of the 10 top countries with a 10.4% growth.