Australian Wine Grape Recovery Underway

CANBERRA - Jan 15/04 - SNS -- Australia's wine industry is looking at a significant increase in grape production, with the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) forecasting a 28% jump in production to 1.81 million metric tons (MT).

ABARE's Executive Director, Dr Brian Fisher, said, "Growth in premium red wine grape production over the years to 2005-06 is forecast to slow as plantings of red varieties continued to decline in 2002.

"Red wine grape production is forecast to increase by a moderate 5% in the three years to 2005-06. Shiraz is projected to remain the dominant wine grape variety produced over the projection period" Dr Fisher said today when releasing the report Australian Wine Grape Production and Winery Intake Projections to 2005-06.

"With the recent shift in plantings back toward white varieties, typically chardonnay, white wine grapes production is projected to increase in the three years to 2005-06 — by 15% to over 703,000 MT", Dr Fisher added.

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