| Wine Grapes Council of South Australia chairman, Paul Clancy, says last year's crop was more than 500,000 tonnes and this can't be sustained year after year, according to a report in ABC.
He says that with overseas and domestic wine markets stagnating, many grape growers will soon have no buyers. "I think in the next few years, growers will find that the contracts that have been written by some of the companies won't be renewed," he says.
Not everyone agrees with Paul's predictions though. Said Stephen Henschke, owner of Henschke winery in South Australia, with whom I discussed the current scenario at Wine for Asia, Singapore, 'I think there may be some regional imbalances, but I don't think we shall have any glut. In any case, it is too early to tell.'
Agreed another exhibitor who represents 12 small wineries in South Australia and was at the show to find new customers. 'With the recent draught still troubling many of our areas, it seems highly unlikely that there would be a glut but the general feeling is that this is not likely,' she said.
With the current financial scenario, the Australian exports are in a rather uncertain situation. 'We were expecting the Aussie dollar to have the same parity as the US dollar. Suddenly it went down to 64 cents, so the situation is rather fluid,' added Stephen.
In any event, we shall report when it happens and how it happens. So stay tuned. |