By Richard Broughton, Executive Search Specialist – Wine Industry.
In a recent article, our Managing Director Dr. Ray Johnson reported on the record levels of agricultural production in Australia at present, with strong performance from most of our major agricultural products.
I specialize in executive search and recruitment in the wine industry, and have been working in this area for over 15 years. After a significant downturn in the Australian wine industry it is fantastic to be able to report that the value of Australian wine exports has reached their highest levels in almost 10 years. In fact the value of wine exports rose 14 per cent to $2.1 billion in 2015.
In terms of the largest markets for Australia wine, the United States remained Australia’s largest market with exports of $443 million, but exports to China experienced the greatest growth with levels up 66 per cent, for a total value of $370 million of exports. We have achieved a stunning export result in Hong Kong which was up 22 per cent, up to $172 million. The value of exports to the United Kingdom, Australia’s second largest market, rose just 0.2 per cent to $376 million and Canada rose 7 per cent to $193 million.
In line with these significant increases in exports we are seeing an upsurge in demand from companies looking for good wine people, from winemakers through to viticulture experts. With relatively low levels of unemployment in Australia and an ongoing skills shortage in agribusiness, finding these people is proving a challenge.
