| Australia's wine exports set new records |
CANBERRA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Australia, the world's fourth largest wine exporter, set a record of 3 billion dollars (2.57 billion U.S. dollars ) of wine exports in the year ending last July, according to an industry report released on Tuesday.
The figure, representing a growth of 8 percent over the previous year, was hailed as a milestone in the report by the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, the Australian government statutory authority for the industry.
Export volume grew by 10 percent to 805 million liters, setting another new record.
The performance was due to rising demands from the United States and China, according to the report.
The value of the Chinese market has risen 125 per cent, and the United States is poised to overtake the United Kingdom as Australia's largest market, said the report.
China bought 51 million dollars (43.7 million U.S. dollars) of Australian wine during the past year and will soon be the fifth largest market for Australian wine, the corporation's chief executive Sam Tolley said.
"Clearly China is developing in its sophistication through the growth of its cities, and coming with that is a desire for wine and Australian wine is in that mix," Tolley said.
Increased bottled wine sales is another factor behind the records, he said.
The United Kingdom was still Australia's most lucrative market, valued at 974 million dollars (835.8 million U.S. dollars), followed by the United States (834.17 million U.S. dollars), Canada, New Zealand and Ireland.
In volume terms, the United Kingdom remained top with 285 million liters, ahead of the United States (222 million liters), Canada, Germany and New Zealand.
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