Boom in wine exports

Strong growth in bulk wine shipments helped achieve the new record, in spite of a drop of 6.6 percent in the average price, the Australian Wine & Brandy Corporation reported in January 2007. Bulk shipments rose by 38 percent to 212 million litres, representing 28 percent of total exports and sparkling wine rose strongly by 14.1 percent. The average price of Australian wine has fallen by more than 5 percent for each of the past four years and averaged AUD 3.72/litre last year, reports John Harvey from Adelaide.