MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile's wine prices rise on international markets

Exports of Chilean bottled wine to foreign markets are increasingly lucrative, with wine prices increasing in nine of the top ten market destinations between January to November last year.

The information was gleaned from statistics developed by Wines of Chile, an organization representing 90 Chilean wineries. Chilean bottled wine prices went up by 6.6 percent in the U.S. market, which receives 18.4 percent of Chile's bottled wine exports, and where the average price for a box of bottled wine is now US $25.33. The biggest surge was seen in Canada, with a 7.9 percent jump in value, reaching US $34.67 per box. Canada has a 4.4 percent share of the bottled wine exports. The only price drop occurred in the United Kingdom, less than one percent, with a case of Chilean wine now costing US$20.88. The United Kingdom is Chile's largest purchaser of bottled wine, accounting for 21.9 percent of bottled wine exports. According to Ricardo Letelier, the general manager of Wines of Chile, "the industry is undertaking a major effort to increase its sales of bottled wine, which has translated into a rise in prices, and has compensated in part for the negative impact of certain market conditions." The Santiago Times -