History to help Australia boost wine exports

Tuesday, 6 February 2018

Australia can again lead the way in expanding wine exports among non-European countries, according to a new book that analyses wine production, consumption and trade trends over the last two centuries.

The book, Wine Globalization: A New Comparative History, edited by Kym Anderson and Vicente Pinilla (Cambridge University Press, February 2018), compiles empirically based analyses by some of the world's leading wine economists and historians of national wine industries before and during the two waves of globalisation (prior to World War I, and recent decades).

In the book, contributors have drawn on a global database of wine statistics, covering 47 countries over the time period 1860 to 2016, to explain wine markets of the past, and to project future markets up to the year 2025.

"One of the ideas the book examines is why it took so long for Australia and other temperate 'New World countries' to exploit their comparative advantage in wine," says book editor and world-renowned wine economist and University of Adelaide Professor, Kym Anderson.

"When globalisation of wine markets did occur, it was Australia that led the way among non-European countries in launching wine exports in the 1890s, and again in the 1990s.

"Despite the slump over the past decade, Australia is now poised to lead the way again," Professor Anderson says.

The book also highlights the emergence of Asia as the most important market for Australia in terms of export growth.

"Asia, especially China, is key to future growth in the value of Australia's wine exports. Asia's wine consumption per capita, and wine's share of its total alcohol consumption, are still extremely low - and Australia is in a prime position to capitalise on that," says Professor Anderson.

The book will be available for purchase via amazon.com from 22 February, and launched at a workshop on February 6 as part of the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES) 2018 Annual Conference at the Adelaide Convention Centre (6-9 February).

The pre-conference workshop is hosted by AARES, the University of Adelaide's Wine Economics Research Centre (WERC), and the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE).

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