September frosts wiped out thousands of tonnes of wine production. Photos: Riverina Winegrape Growers.
The chief executive of a group that represents local winegrape growers has warned his industry may soon have to stop all production in the Riverina due to a combination of reduced global demand, increased costs, the impact of past Chinese tariffs, volatile climatic events, government inaction and water buybacks.
“Are we looking at the end of wine production in the Riverina MIA?” Riverina Winegrape Growers CEO Jeremy Cass said in a recent Facebook post.
“What started out as a call for an investigation into the origin of COVID-19 by then Prime Minister Scott Morrison turned into the single biggest downturn the Australian wine industry has seen in living memory.
“The tariffs that were imposed by China on Australian wine meant Australia’s largest export market for wine evaporated overnight, [and] the repercussions of this are still being felt.”
Earlier this year, the University of Adelaide’s Wine Economics Research Centre also highlighted the Australia-wide malaise in the sector.
“A crisis … has been threatening since early this century,” its paper stated.
“The threat was eased somewhat by the rapid growth after 2001 in export sales of [Yenda’s] Casella’s new [Yellow Tail] brand, and then by the emergence in the 2010s of China as a new large wine market.
“But China’s punitive tariffs on Australian wine over the past three years and its rapid decline in wine consumption since 2017, plus COVID-19 and war-related logistical problems depressing … export prices of Australia’s bulk red wine in international markets, have led to the accumulation of a huge surplus of bulk red wine.”
Riverina Winegrape Growers CEO Jeremy Cass wants to see action from the Federal and State governments.
The Riverina is the second-biggest wine-growing region in Australia, exporting more than 12 million cases every year. But it’s not as big as it used to be, according to Mr Cass.
“Three years ago, we had 22,000 hectares of vineyards and 275 independent grape growers. This has dropped to less than 19,000 hectares and 225 growers,” he said.
On top of all the economic factors, this area has also been hit by terrible weather.
“The Riverina has seen major climatic events that have wreaked havoc randomly throughout the region in recent years: hail, floods and rain that caused increased disease pressure and crop loss have impacted most growers,” Mr Cass said.
“This year, growers had to endure the worst and most widespread frost event I have seen in the region in the 30 years I have lived here. And now, just last weekend a devastating storm that tore through Yenda and surrounds, wreaking havoc with strong winds and hail, leaving a trail of damage to both infrastructure and crops in its wake.”
Mr Cass has called for the government to step in to help.
“We are fielding questions from the government on modern slavery, but our growers aren’t making enough to survive, let alone have employees,” he said.
“These days there seems to be someone to protect everything, but who protects the growers that should be considered slaves as they can’t afford to pay themselves? No one is rushing to help them out of a situation that was not of their making.
“We need both the State and Federal governments to acknowledge the reality of the situation and provide some positive intervention.”
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