9 July, 2008 - The New Zealand wine industry continues to exhibit impressive growth with exports increasing ten-fold over the past decade. Ideal climatic conditions resulted in an excellent harvest in early 2008, up 39% over the previous year.
Production
New Zealand experienced another record breaking harvest in MY 2008/09 (March 2008 – February 2009). According to the June 13, 2008 estimate released by the New Zealand Winegrowers, an industry organization, grape production in MY 2008/09 reached a record 285,000 tons - a massive 39% increased over MY 2007/08.
While producing vineyards continue to expand – up 6.5% in MY 2008/09 – ideal climatic conditions over most of the country was a major factor accounting for the record harvest. Yields during MY 2008/09 were 34% higher than the long term average yield of 7.9 tons per hectare. The harvest will produce 205 million liters of wine based on a conversion rate of 720 liters per ton.
The industry continues to expand at a rapid pace. Estimates indicate that the additional producing vineyard area coming on stream over the next two years will bring the total area to 33,000 hectares in MY 2010/11, up from 25,355 hectares in MY 2007/08. In light of the on-going planting trends, some estimates put New Zealand’s production area at 35,000
hectares by MY 2015/16 producing between 310,000 and 385,000 tons of grapes per year. This is up from 80,100 tons in MY 2000/01.
The future rate of growth of the New Zealand wine industry will depend on its response to a range of production, economic and marketing challenges currently confronting the sector including access to seasonal labor, investment in processing infrastructure, profitability, water shortages, power shortages, carbon taxes, waste issues, chemical use, interest rates, exchange rates and a host of other factors.