Australia's Strong Dollar Puts a Cork in Its Wine Sales
Australia's Strong Dollar Puts a Cork in Its Wine Sales
Jan 26, 2012 6
(Bloomberg) - A soaring currency hits Aussie winemakers on two fronts: Higher prices hurt their exports, and lower prices on imports shrink sales at home. Cellarbrations, a wine shop in the inner Sydney suburb of Newtown, sells Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial, a popular French Champagne produced by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (MC:FP), for A$49.99 ($52.61) a bottle in six-bottle cases. Wine House, a Melbourne-based online store, is selling LVMH’s Chandon Green Point Cuvée 1995, a sparkling wine produced in Australia’s Yarra Valley, for A$52. Much to the dismay of Australia’s wine industry, its days of offering lower-priced alternatives to French vintages are fading.
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