There are growing opportunities for Australian wine producers to deepen their influence in the nascent wine market in Vietnam.
In its latest post, Wine Australia noted Vietnam as a “new emerging” wine market – “one where wine is relatively new and unknown but showing potential.”
Vietnam consumes 1.67 million cases of wine each year with each adult drinking 0.2 liters.
Almost all or 99% of alcoholic beverages consumed in the country are beers with wines only making up about a third of the remaining 1%.
Australia Wine Exports – Southeast Asia (Q1 2020 vs Q1 2021)
| Market | Q1 2020 | Q1 2021 | % Change |
| Vietnam | 882,262 | 1,319,399 | 49.55% |
| Cambodia | 482,749 | 442,114 | -11.34% |
| Indonesia | 428,020 | 2,085,038 | 387.14% |
| Laos | 0 | 86,801 | |
| Malaysia | 9,717,000 | 4,509,374 | -53.59% |
| Myanmar | 11,924 | 13,152 | 10.3% |
| Philippines | 3,165,482 | 1,625,145 | 48.66% |
| Singapore | 13,635,877 | 19,911,914 | 46.03% |
| Thailand | 3,791,676 | 2,792,893 | 26.34% |
| Timor-Leste | 56,680 | 50,442 | -11.01% |
| Total | 32,171,670 | 32,836,282 | 2.07% |
Source: Wine Australia
Wine trade
Last year, Vietnam bought 10.6 million liters of wine from Australia, its fourth-largest import partner cornering 11% of total wine imports by value.
“Of the top 10 importers, Australia has the highest average value apart from the United Kingdom, which exports small quantities of premium sparkling wine to Vietnam,” Wine Australia said.
In the year ended March 2021, however, it reduced its wine exports to Vietnam by 50% with a total export value of AU$8.11 per liter FOB, given the impact of the global health crisis.
Still, Australia has been delivering wines to the country at a yearly compounded average growth rate of 7% since 2010.
Australia Wine Exports – Vietnam (2020-2021)
Source: Wine Australia
Nearly all Australian wines exported to the country are packaged. Red wines make a bulk of them or 83%, somewhat “similar” to the Chinese market, Wine Australia noted. China used to be Australia’s biggest wine export destination before their trade relations turned sour which led to a crippling 200% tariff imposed on Australian wines.
Moreover, “opportunities for Vietnam may increase further next year,” the trade body said. With two free trade deals with Vietnam, Australia will see its tariffs drop from 50% to 20% starting January 2022 before stopping duties payments by 2029.
In 2020, Vietnam posted the highest economic growth among Asian countries at 2.9% despite the global coronavirus pandemic, according to the International Monetary Fund.
