8504.0 - Shipments of Wine and Brandy in Australia by Australian Winemakers and Importers, June 2014  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 21/08/2014  Final
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EXPLANATORY NOTES


INTRODUCTION

1 The information shown in this publication for the domestic sales of Australian produced wine is obtained directly from winemakers by means of a mail collection. The brandy sales figures shown represent quantities on which excise duty was paid, i.e. the quantity of brandy released for sale in litres of alcohol. Statistics relating to import clearances are based on information provided to the Australian Customs Service by importers and their agents.


SCOPE AND COVERAGE

2 The information on domestic sales of Australian produced wine is obtained from all known winemaking enterprises with sales of 250,000 litres or more in either of the previous two financial years. These account for approximately 97% of total wine sales. All sales data are collected on an Australia-wide basis only and state figures are therefore not available.


IMPORTS

3 Figures relating to international trade in wine and brandy provide a basis for assessing the overall wine market. ABS procedures are designed to ensure that sufficient editing is undertaken to guarantee the quality and integrity of trade statistics to the ten-digit Harmonized Tariff Item Statistical Code level.

4 Imports cleared for home consumption comprise those goods entered for home consumption, together with goods cleared from Customs warehouses.

5 In order to retain stability in the time-series of data, the selection of countries for which imports data has been presented has been based upon the level of annual imports from the previous financial year.

6 The value of imports is the Australian customs value. Goods are valued at the point of containerisation (in most cases) or the port of shipment, or at the customs frontier of the exporting country, whichever comes first.

7 The definition of Grape Wine has been taken from the Combined Australian Customs Tariff Nomenclature and Statistical Classification effective from January 1, 2012, produced by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. As per Chapter 22 - Beverages, spirits and vinegar - Additional Note 3 "grape wine" is a beverage that:
(a) has an alcoholic strength by volume exceeding 1.15% vol but not exceeding 22% vol; and
(b) is the product of the complete or partial fermentation of fresh grapes or products derived solely from fresh grapes.
A beverage does not cease to be the product of the complete or partial fermentation of fresh grapes or products derived solely from fresh grapes merely because grape spirit, brandy, or both grape spirit and brandy, have been added to it.

8 The definition of Grape Wine Product has been taken from the Combined Australian Customs Tariff Nomenclature and Statistical Classification effective from January 1, 2012, produced by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. As per Chapter 22 - Beverages, spirits and vinegar - Additional Note 4 "grape wine product" is a beverage that:
(a) has not had added to it, at any time, the flavour of any alcoholic beverage (other than wine) (whether the flavour is natural or artificial); and
(b) if the beverage has had added to it ethyl alcohol used in preparing vegetable extracts, as mentioned in subparagraph (b)(ii) of Additional Note 4B - complies with the following requirements:
(i) the ethyl alcohol must only be used to extract flavours from vegetable matter;
(ii) the ethyl alcohol must be essential to the extraction process;
(iii) the ethyl alcohol must not add more than one percentage point to the alcoholic strength by volume of the beverage.

9 For detailed information on the Harmonised Tariff Item Statistical Codes and Classifications refer to http://www.customs.gov.au


ACKNOWLEDGMENT

10 ABS publications draw extensively on information provided freely by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is very much appreciated: without it, the wide range of statistics published by the ABS would not be available. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905.


RELATED PUBLICATIONS

11 Another ABS publication which may be of interest is the Australian Wine and Grape Industry (cat. no. 1329.0). This is a statistical compendium of Australia’s wine and grape industries containing information on: wine production and grapes crushed by state; stocks of wine held by winemakers at 30 June; and domestic wine sales.

12 Current publications and other products by the ABS are listed on the ABS web site. The ABS also issues a daily Release Advice on the web site which details products to be released in the week ahead.