| February 27, 1997 | Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST) | 19/1997 |
1996 a great year for grapes
The 1996 grape harvest was the foundation for new records for the Australian wine and grape industry according to the publication Australian Wine and Grape Industry, 1996 released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
New records were set in grape production, wine production, and wine exports. Wine imports were also at a record level.
Statistical features from the publication include:
- Production of grapes for all purposes from the 1996 harvest passed the one million tonne mark for the first time. The total of 1,062,167 tonnes surpassed the previous record set in 1992 (987,142 tonnes).
- This record production was achieved from a grapevine bearing area of 63,132 hectares which is less than the record level of 65,182 hectares at the 1980 harvest. However, at the 1996 harvest a record area of grapevines not yet bearing (14,549 hectares) were recorded, lifting the total area under vine to a record 77,681 hectares.
- A record 883,318 tonnes of fresh grapes was crushed for the 1996 vintage by winemakers who crush 50 tonnes or more. This was up 14 per cent on the previous record in 1994.
- The volume of beverage wine produced by these winemakers was also a record 620.1 million litres, also up 14 per cent on the previous record in 1994.
- This record wine production resulted in a 22 per cent increase in stocks of Australian produced beverage wine with 782.3 million litres in stock at 30 June 1996.
- Australia exported a record 129.5 million litres of wine in 1995-96, valued at $470.7 million and averaging $3.64 per litre.
- Imports also reached a record high in 1995-96 with 20.3 million litres being imported to Australia at an average cost of $2.99 per litre.
Details are in Australian Wine and Grape Industry, 1996 (Cat No 1329.0) available at ABS bookshops.
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