NZ says wine production to rise 20%

The big rise is on the back of the 2006 grape harvest - estimated by Winegrowers New Zealand at a record 185,000 tonnes.

About 55 per cent of New Zealand production is already exported.

"The domestic market for wine is growing relatively slowly, so an increasing proportion of New Zealand's production will be exported," Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry economists said.

"Wine production will be 20 per cent higher in the year ending March 2007 than in 2006," the economists said in projections to 2010.

"After 2007, we expect wine production to increase 10 percent per year until March 2010, as new plantings mature."

Their export projections for the next four years were for 2007, 68 million litres, ( $NZ619 million ($A500.65 million)); 2008, 77m litres, ($NZ761m); 2009, 85m litres, ($NZ867m); and 2010, 92m litres, ($NZ964m).

The MAF analysts noted prices for New Zealand wine fell slightly in its main export market, the UK, in the year to March 2006, but improvements since then in the NZ dollar exchange rate were expected to boost returns.

While world wine markets remained well supplied and growth in consumption was slow, some commentators considered that it would eventually outstrip production increases, easing downward pressure on prices by 2010.

Vineyard plantings producing grapes were estimated at 21,002 hectares in June 2005, a 52 percent increase since 2002, and average yields per hectare had fallen over the past 10 years as growers managed vines for quality rather than quantity.

quelle: www.winebusniness.com

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