China opens the tap

RELIEF is flowing among Australian winemakers, including a local winery, after tariffs from the country’s biggest trade partner were lifted.

China’s Ministry of Commerce imposed tariffs on a range of Australian goods back in 2020, including wine, following accusations that Australia was “dumping” its wine into the Chinese market.

Tariffs on some producers were as high as 218.4 per cent.

In 2019, Australia sold $1.24 billion worth of wine to China, capturing a market share of around 40 per cent in the Chinese wine market.

In 2021, the amount of wine sold to China was just $69.66 million worth, and less than $1 million last year.

But on 29 March the tariffs were officially lifted, which business manager of local St Anne’s Winery, Angus McLean, said had made he and other Aussie winemakers “ecstatic”.

“We’ve been waiting for this news for four years,” Mr McLean said. “It was more than just a tariff, it was actually a ban.

“Even if we wanted to pay the tariff, or if our import partners wanted to, they weren’t allowed.

“It was just a complete blockade.

“It’s been very dramatic. China was the industry’s largest export partner. As for St Anne’s, we have about a container a week going to China, which for us is significant.”

Though “an optimist by nature”, Mr McLean expects it’ll take years for the Aussie wine industry to recover from the damage the tariffs have caused.

“It’s going to take some time. In those last four years, we’ve had our spots filled by producers from France, South Africa, and South America…so getting our market share back in China will take some time,” he said.

“It’s been a rude awakening I think for the whole industry, not just for us. We all understand the dangers of having too many eggs in one basket.

“I guess the golden days of exports to China were just so good that we’d become complacent, and were left very vulnerable when these tariffs hit.”

In the absence of most of the Australian wines usually available in China, France has recaptured the Chinese wine market with a market share of 49 per cent.