New Zealand: Wine production and consumption

New Zealand Winegrowers Inc. has published its 2024 annual report, with data updated to June. The harvest in New Zealand, as we will also see for the rest of the world, was one of the poorest in terms of volumes in recent years. In particular, 2.8 million hectoliters of wine were produced, compared to 3.6-3.8 in the previous two years. But perhaps the most worrying aspect is the constant decline in wine consumption by locals, which fell in 2024 to 15 liters in total, half of which was local wine and half imported wine. I say this because multiplying the 7.5 liters by the inhabitants of drinking age we arrive at 400 thousand hectoliters, therefore a percentage of wine production of about 15% of a bad year. And this makes exports even more important, given that the vineyard base shows no signs ...