Maharashtra on a high as wine exports surge 75%

Maharashtra's wine exports have jumped 75 per cent in FY07 to 3.50 lakh litres compared with 2 lakh litres in the previous year (FY06), netting Rs 5.28 crore in revenues.

In the past six years, grape wine exports have increased almost five-fold from 75,000 litres in FY02 to 3.5 lakh litres in FY07. Due to the continuous rise in exports, the state's grape wine production has also increased six-fold in the last six years from 20 lakh litres in FY02 to 1.32 crore litres in FY07.

"In FY07, 4.50 lakh litres of grape wine were exported from India, out of which 3.50 lakh litres of grape wine alone were exported from Maharashtra to France, Italy, Germany, USA, UK, Singapore and Belgium.

Jaideep Kale, technical coordinator, Grape Wine Park, Maharashtra said, "Grape wine production got a big boost when the Maharashtra Grape Processing Industrial Policy of 2001 came into effect. Today, out of total grape wine production in India, Maharashtra accounts for almost 94 per cent. In FY07, the total wine production of grape wine in India was 1.42 crore litres, out of which Maharashtra's share was 1.32 crore litres."

"In FY07, Maharashtra registered around 40 per cent growth in wine production to 1,32,76,000 litres compared with 94.79 lakh litres in FY06. The state had produced 20 lakh litres of grape wine in FY02, 25 lakh litres in FY03, 30 lakh litres in FY04 and 54.64 lakh litres in FY05," he said.

Of the country's total 54 wineries, Maharashtra's share is 51. As many as 28 wineries are in Nashik, nine in Pune, eight in Sangli, three in Solapur, two in Buldhana and one in Usmanabad. In FY07, Pune was the biggest wine producer in the state at 78.27 lakh litres, followed by Nashik at 49.48 lakh litres, Sangli at 3,53,500 litres, Buldhana at 1.07 lakh litres and Usmanabad at 48,500 litres.

Out of total consumption of grape wine in India, around 80 per cent wine consumption is from the major cities "" Mumbai (39 per cent), Delhi (23 per cent), Bangalore (9 per cent) and Goa (9 per cent), while the rest of the grape wine consumption i.e 20 per cent is from the rest of India.

"The Indian market is way behind heavy wine drinking countries like France and Italy, where consumption of wine is 60-70 litres, in USA 25 litres, in Australia 25 litres, while in China consumption is 4 litres per person per year. But in India, consumption of wine per person per year is literally a sip of 5 to 6 ml. But the Indian market has been growing at about 30 to 40 per cent every year and it is expected to grow at this rate for the next 5 or 6 years," Kale said.