Wine Policy Monographs

Global Wine Production, Consumption and Trade, 1961 to 2001. A Statistical Compendium

Kym Anderson and David Norman

Adelaide: Centre for International Economic Studies
(Price AUD49.95 print edition + 9.95 postage if ordering from overseas)

This publication supercedes the three previous CIES statistical compendia namely
Global Wine Production, Consumption and Trade, 1961 to 1999. A Statistical Compendium
by Kym Anderson and David Norman
Still available on CD-ROM
Bilateral Trade Patterns in the World Wine Market, 1988 to 1997: A Statistical Compendium,
by Nicholas Berger and Kym Anderson and
Trends in the World Wine Market, 1961 to 1996: A Statistical Compendium,
by Nicholas Berger, Kym Anderson and Randy Stringer

Need to know how other exporting countries are doing in your growth markets abroad? Or how wine is competing in the market for alcoholic beverages? Or which countries are most rapidly upgrading the quality of their wine imports? These and a thousand other such questions can now be readily answered with the help of this new statistical compendium.

Among other things it exposes the extent to which the world’s various wine markets are structurally adjusting. Until 15 years ago, wine exporting was an almost exclusively European activity. In the decade to 1985, for example, about 80 per cent of exports came from five European Union members (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Portugal), another 10 per cent came from Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, and a further 8 per cent came from other European countries and the former French colonies of North Africa. Since then, however, California and several southern hemisphere countries (Australia, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, and New Zealand) have begun to challenge that European dominance. Between 1986 and 1999, this new group’s combined share of world wine exports grew from 1.6 to 15 per cent in value terms.

Simultaneously, per capita consumption in many traditional wine-consuming countries is declining as consumers switch from quantity to quality, while consumption in emerging markets in Europe and East Asia is growing rapidly from a low base. As well, two-way trade is becoming more common as consumers seek a greater range of styles and varieties of wine. Globalization also is affecting ownership of major wine firms, as mergers and acquisitions spill over national borders.

With these major changes, and with a new round of WTO-sponsored multilateral trade negotiations getting under way, there is a greater need than ever for systematic analysis of the world’s markets for wine. An essential prerequisite for such analysis is a thorough understanding of past trends and recent developments. To that end this compendium brings together data from a wide range of national and international sources and summarizes them in ways that make it easy to see trends over time and draw comparisons across countries.

Trends and Cycles in the Australian Wine Industry, 1850 to 2000

Robert Osmond and Kym Anderson

Adelaide: Centre for International Economic Studies, 1998.
(xv + 87 pages, ISBN 0 86396 449 4, Price AUD12.90 in Australia or US$11.75 if ordering from overseas, including postage).

In addition to providing a compilation of detailed data with long time series (up to 150 years) of Australian production, consumption, trade and price information, this study examines the boom-bust cycles around the industry's long run growth path. Is the 1990s boom also destined to be followed by a crash? This report by Osmond and Anderson analyses the structural changes towards and then away from fortified wines and, more recently, from red to white and back to red table wines and from non-premium to premium production and consumption. The report offers tentative conclusions as to the industry's prospects, pending the next stage of the CIES' research project. Several reasons are given as to why the present buoyancy probably will continue into the new millenium, provided the industry keeps adjusting to the changing market conditions.

Tax Reform and the Australian Wine Industry

Glyn Wittwer and Kym Anderson

Adelaide: Centre for International Economic Studies, 1998.
This paper can now be downloaded in its revised form
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The current review of the Australian taxation system is likely to lead to the present mix of various wholesale sales taxes being replaced by a uniform value-added tax (VAT) on virtually all goods and services, with cuts to personal income taxes so as to make the changes revenue neutral. What would be the consequences for the grape and wine industry of moving to a VAT in Australia? This question is addressed in this report with the help of an economy-wide model that distinguishes premium from non-premium grapes and wine. Overall tax changes are considered both without and with further changes to wine consumption tax levels. Should the latter go down to the general VAT rate, stay where they are, or go up to match, for example, the beer rate? If a penalty tax on wine consumers is to continue, should it be value-based or, as with beer and spirits, volume-based? These and related questions are addressed empirically in this timely report.