In the year just gone, the value of imports from New Zealand grew by 11% to reach $US399.8million ($NZ570million) while imports of Australian wine fell 9% to $US351.7million, Rabobank's latest Wine Quarterly report said.

Senior analyst Marc Soccio said the trends for each country could not be more different.

While the US imported more than twice the volume of Australian wine, New Zealand wine cost over two and a half times the price of Australian wine on average at the border.

US wine imports rose 1% in volume and 3% in value in 2016. Imported wines maintained market share in recent years, representing 33% of total US wine consumption.

Wine imports reflected the trend, as the lion's share of the growth was driven by more expensive wines and lower-priced wine imports continued to fall.

New Zealand wine exports followed a steady upward trajectory, as volumes from the 2016 harvest became available to meet demand (particularly from North American markets).

Total export volumes increased by 10% in 2016 and in value by 5% to $NZ1.6billion.

Within that total, bottled wine exports increased by 5%, and value increased by 2.6% to $NZ1.3billion.

Average export prices fell over the past six months, from what were elevated levels, especially to the UK market.

Annual export volumes to the UK market grew by 14% in 2016, however the depreciation of the British pound significantly impacted returns from an important market, which continued to receive over a quarter of New Zealand wine exports.

Read more at Source: The Country