A free trade agreement between Australia, New Zealand and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should help lower import tariffs on wine, Australia's Trade Minister Simon Crean said late Wednesday.

Most of the 10 members of Asean have high and sometimes prohibitive tariffs on wine, which isn't surprising in countries with primarily Muslim populations, he said.

"Nevertheless, we expect that our FTA with Asean will ultimately lead to substantial tariff reductions or duty-free access on wine into some Asean countries," Crean told a board meeting of the Winemakers' Federation of Australia.

Negotiations were concluded in August for the Asean-Australia-New Zealand FTA, under which Australia achieved market access gains in a wide range of sectors, including agriculture.

The FTA is the largest Australia has negotiated as Asean countries account for 16% of Australia's trade in goods and services, worth A$71 billion in 2007, Crean said.

Australia is also negotiating FTAs with Japan, China, the Gulf Cooperation Council and Malaysia, is considering starting negotiations with South Korea, and is studying the feasibility of starting FTA talks with Indonesia and India, all of which aim at improving access to those markets, he said.

Crean said wine sales to China and Hong Kong are growing rapidly.

Wine was Australia's third largest agricultural export in the fiscal 2007-08 year ended June 30, with exports valued at A$2.7 billion.

Although it produces only 5% of the world's wine, Australia is the third largest wine exporter with more than 60% of production exported, the minister said.