The Australian domestic market continues to be a fiercely competitive place to do business, with domestic sales in May falling nearly 11%, compared to the month before.


According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, seasonally adjusted Australian wine sales were down 10.8% for the month in May 2003 and down 1.7% compared with May 2002.


And while export volumes continue to grow, value in May registered a decline. The ABS figures show that 45.3m litres of Australian-produced wine valued at A$195.6m were exported in May 2003. This was a rise of 0.6% in volumes, but a 3.7% fall in value on the previous month.


The average value of Australian wine exported in May 2003 was A$4.32 per litre, again down from the figure in the same month last year of A$5.18 per litre.