The primary industries in New South Wales include beef cattle, wool, wheat, hay, clover, oats, rice, maize, fruit, vegetables, fishing (including oyster farming) and forestry (including logging). The state has many natural advantages in agricultural production, including clean, pest-free growing environments and a wide variety of soil types, topography, and climates that allow agriculture to produce a diverse range of high-quality, low-cost raw materials. The state has a large food processing industry, accounting for Australia's food processing production, investment and research and development.
The state is also known as Australia's wine region.
While Australia's best-known wine brands are not located in New South Wales, its viticulture industry has always played an important role in Australia's wine history. The state's grape acreage and wine production has grown at a fast pace - in the 1970s it was only a third the size of South Australia, a gap that has narrowed as the state's regions have continued to grow.
New South Wales' best-known and most acclaimed wine region is the Hunter Valley, known by its geographical designation 'Hunter'. The region's most famous wine is the dry Hunter Valley Semillon, which is unoaked and has high acidity and a long finish. The Hunter Valley has a mix of large, historic wineries and many small, family-run vineyards that produce smaller quantities of wine but make high quality vintages.
The Central Ranges region of southwestern New South Wales has one of the fastest growing wine industries in Australia. Although the region has been making wine for more than 150 years, it has always had a small area under vine. It was not until the 1990s that the region's Cowra, Orange and Mudgee appellations showed strong growth. The region's main grape varieties include Chardonnay, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier.
The Canberra District, although administratively conceptualized as part of the ACT (Australian Capital Territory), is preferred to be classified as New South Wales in the context of wine regions. The region farmed its first commercial vineyards in the 1970s and has gained a reputation for some excellent boutique winery wines.
The south-west of New South Wales is the Big Rivers region, which produces about 75 percent of the state's wine and is one of Australia's most prolific wine regions. The Riverina appellation, which produces hundreds of millions of liters of wine each year and sells it in barrels, is a key contributor to the region's high production. In Australia, New South Wales is a leader in manufacturing. There are also clear strengths in the manufacturing and processing industries as well as mining, with some emerging industries such as biotechnology, aquaculture and digital media technology showing great potential for growth. The state's major products include machinery, electronics (including radio, television and communications equipment), base metal products, chemical fertilizers, and processed foods and beverages. Major imports are office equipment and automatic data processing equipment, vehicles, petroleum and petroleum products, telecommunications and recording equipment, and electrical machinery and equipment; major exports are coal and coke, grains and grain products, textile fibers, petroleum and petroleum products, and iron and steel.
The state's construction, architecture and design industry is one of the strongest in Australia and is one of the state's major export industries. Many of the state's construction and design firms gained valuable experience working on major infrastructure projects during the Sydney Olympics. The state's economy is diverse and world-leading, particularly in financial and business services and information and communications technology. The financial sector serves the domestic market as well as the Asia-Pacific Financial Services Hub with its multilingual, well-educated and highly skilled workforce. Finance and insurance is the fastest growing industry in the state, with a combined annual growth rate of over 9% between 1995 and 2006. The finance and insurance industry generates 44.4% of Australia's national value of production, while the real estate and business services sector accounts for 40.6%. Sydney is a center for banking, foreign exchange, stocks, futures, managed funds and financial services companies in the Asia-Pacific region. According to Ausimmigration.com, 53 of the 55 banks authorized to operate deposit-taking businesses in Australia are based in Sydney, reflecting its growing importance as a regional financial center. Eighteen of the world's top 20 banks operate in Sydney. The Federal Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australian Securities Exchange, the Australian International Banking and Securities Association and the Australian Financial Markets Association are all headquartered in Sydney. The state's information and communications technology (ICT) sector is large, with revenues totaling A$31 billion annually, and Sydney has a vibrant manufacturing and maintenance contracting industry that serves the ICT sector in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
The state accounts for 44 percent of Australia's business investment in the medical and health sciences, according to AusImmigration.com.au. In 2006, 286 of the 612 medical device companies in Australia, or nearly 47 percent, were located in the state. In addition to this, a further 107 companies involved in human therapeutics and diagnostics were based in the state.