Mixed bag for wine production

A report on Australia’s wine industry could increase the pressure on the struggling sector. According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, 80,000 more tonnes of grapes will be crushed at next year’s vintage. For many winegrape growers, it’s costing more to pick their grapes than what they can sell them for. The industry has been oversupplied for over five years. Poor growing conditions have pushed yields down for the past two of those years, but the Federal Government’s peak agriculture research bureau, ABARES predicts a 5 per cent increase in production for the next growing season, reports ABC Rural.