Since today, August 18 2020, China’s Ministry of Commerce had begun an anti-dumping investigation into imports of wine from Australia following a call from the China Wine and Spirit Association (CAWS) on behalf of the domestic industry last month.
The anti-dumping probe will look at imports of wine from Australia in containers holding 2 litres or less during the whole of 2019. It would also investigate any damage done to the Chinese wine industry from 2015 to 2019.
Ties between the two trading partners have increasingly soured in recent years. In addition to banning Huawei from participating in Australia’s 5G network, Canberra asked for an independent inquiry into the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak. Besides commercial damages, have these reasons contributed to the spark of the Chinese backlash?
Facts:
- In the Chinese wine market Australia is the largest wine supplier with over 35% market share.
- For the Australian wine industry China is the Top wine market by value (in 2019 exported over 817 million US$).
- Australia’s exports of wine to China have risen in recent years with Chinese tariffs being removed after a 2015 free-trade agreement. As a result, in 2019, for the first time ever, Australia overtook France as China’s biggest wine exporter.
- Shares of the leading Australian winery – Treasury Wine Estates Ltd. (the maker of Penfolds) – fell as much as 20% and were temporarily paused from trading.
Source: CAWS press release