Grape production down due to drought and prices

Submitted 17/12/2008

AAP

16/12/2008 12:03:00 PM Wine harvests in the Murray Valley and Barossa regions took a battering during 2006/07 due to the drought and weaker prices, a new report says.

The report, from the Australian Bureau of Agriculture Resource Economics, found that lower grape prices and yields contributed to weaker returns to Murray Valley growers.

These growers produce 25 per cent of Australia's crushed grapes annually but made on average just $9000 profit each during that year, the report said.

Barossa Valley grape growers, who produce five per cent of Australia's crushed grape yields, recorded average business losses of $29,000 a year.

Despite the disparities, 30 per cent of Murray Valley growers surveyed at the time said they intended to leave the agriculture industry in five years.

By comparison, three quarters of growers surveyed in the Barossa region expected to be in a "similar level of involvement" in the industry by 2013.