Wine – new wine-growing nations tap export opportunities

With 1.1 million hectares of vines under cultivation, Spain is the undisputed world champion. Wine-growing world champion. Far behind – at least in terms of wine cultivation area – are France (884,000 hectares) and Italy with 856,000 hectares. The following major wine cultivation areas are quite interesting, too: Turkey (590,000 ha) ranks fourth, China (450,000 ha) and the USA (391,000 ha) rank fifth and sixth. Worldwide, wine is grown on approximately 7.9 million ha – a figure that has remained stable for the past 15 years.
Against the presumption that the country with the largest cultivation area is the export world champion as well, this ranking is taken by France with an export volume of 15.0 million hl, with Italy(13.3 million hl) and Spain (12.3 million hl) close on the heels. The other export nations Australia, Chile and the USA follow with an export volume between 5.4 and 3.3 million hl.
The growth rate of the export figures of some countries are interesting: Between 1998 and 2003, Australia increased its exports by 170 %, South Africa listed a growth of 100 % and – Moldova of 107 %.  Certainly, when compared to the initial rate of these countries, the increase is naturally higher, but what is boils down to is this: new producing countries start world-wide promtion and marketing of their wines. A conclusion with regard to the required filling and dressing technology as well as packaging is obvious.