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Growers rebel against winemaker tactics
6 Feb 2008
Grape growers are accusing winemakers of using unrealistic crop forecasts to talk down crop prices. The industry body Wine Grape Growers Australia has urged its members to use dispute clauses in their contracts to challenge the forecasts and force winemakers to pay higher prices as it says that members are being offered less than the cost of production. WGGA executive director mark McKenzie has said that winemakers had offered higher indicative prices last year when it looked like drought would restrict supply but have now revised those forecasts to push prices down. Growers watched prices fall from $1000 per tonne in the late 1990's to a third of that or even less in 2006 as they waited for a wine surplus to disappear, but now that has been achieved there has yet to be a significant recovery in grape prices.
The Australian, 6/2/2008
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