Guy Barnett,Minister for Primary Industries and Water
Tasmania's wine grape harvest is in full swing with reports across the state that quality is excellent and the 2019 crop is on track to surpass the record 2018 yield.
Tasmania's award winning wine industry injects more than $100 million into our state's economy and directly employs more than 2,000 full time equivalent positions, often in regional areas.
The Hodgman Liberal Government is a great supporter of the Tasmanian wine industry, investing $600,000 to further develop wine export and visitor markets, and continue to build our growing global reputation.
Wine Tasmania is using the funding to undertake a strategic and targeted promotional program to grow the presence and reputation of Tasmanian wine in the key markets of the United Kingdom, USA, Hong Kong and domestic markets, with a secondary focus on broader Asia, specifically Japan and Singapore.
We also invested a further $250,000 to match funding from the Federal International Wine Tourism State Grants program, to partner local wine and tourism businesses on a global marketing campaign.
Tasmanian wine producers already export around 18,000 bottles a year to Japan, with this number set to increase following the success of the recent Japan trade mission which featured a showcase on Tasmanian wines presented to key Japanese buyers and importers.
Our wine industry is playing a pivotal role as we work towards our vision to grow the annual farm gate value of Tasmania's agricultural sector to $10 billion by 2050.
