Australian wine businesses that export to China, Hong Kong, Macau and the United States can now apply for up to $25,000 in Government funding to support specific export promotion activities.
The Wine Export Grants program is part of the Australian Government’s $50 million Export and Regional Wine Support Package, which aims to drive demand for wine exports and showcase Australia’s wine tourism to the world.
Administered by Wine Australia, the grant program has $1 million in funding for eligible small and medium wine businesses to claim up to 50 per cent reimbursement for specific export promotion expenses incurred on or after January 1, 2018.
“Applications will be on a first-come first-served basis, so I strongly encourage wine businesses to review the guidelines and prepare their applications,” said Wine Australia CEO Andreas Clark.
“These grants focus on China and the USA as they have been identified as the markets with the most growth potential.”
Eligible claims would include reimbursement of travel expenses for a single promotional visit to those markets, the cost of providing free samples, participation in trade fairs and in-store promotions, as well as marketing and advertising, Clark said.
The $50 million package aims to increase the value of Australian wine exports to a record $2.8 billion and attract an additional 40,000 international tourists to Australian wine regions by 2019–20.