Australian Wine and Grape Industry
Australian Wine and Grape Industry
Potential Impacts
Grapevine Leaf Rust has the potential to devastate Australia's $4.8 Billion winegrape, wine and tablegrape industries if it spreads into Ti Tree in Central Australia or into the southern production areas. The thriving Ti Tree tablegrape industry, north of Alice Springs, is one of the Northern Territory's premier horticultural sectors, generating $20 Million a year and substantial local employment.
Australia's grape growing and wine industries, as a whole, directly employ more than 30 000 people across 61 regional economies. Many thousands more are employed indirectly through the retail, tourism and other activities generated by these industries.
The implications for Australian wine exports could be significant. Australia is the 6th largest wine producer and a relatively low wine consumer (27.5 litres per head a year), it exports more than 41% of its production, mostly to America and the UK.
Click
here for a more comprehensive report on Australia's wine and grape production from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.