Australian Wine Exports Drop

CANBERRA, Australia: A decline in bulk wine shipments has led to a 9-percent drop in the volume of Australian wine exports, the Australian Wine and Brandy Corp. said on Friday.

The volume of wine exports fell to 724 million liters in the 12 months to the end of May this year, and the value of overall wine exports dropped 7 percent to 2.8 billion ($2.688 billion) in the same period, the corporation's May wine export approval report said.

Bulk wine exports declined by 33 percent and soft-pack shipments by 41 percent in the 12-month period, it said.

The United Kingdom remained the biggest export market in value and volume terms, taking 272 million liters of Australian wine in the year to the end of May. The United States was next, followed by Canada, the report said.