Australian Wine & China!
Andrew Roper
Founder | World’s only Backstage Cellar Door. Unique & Boutique Wine & Spirit Specialist Touring wines for GnR, Taylor Swift, Kris Kristofferson, KISS, Disturbed, Ed Sheeran, Robert Plant, Def Leppard, QOTSA & others.
China announces it will slap big tariffs on Australian wine
NEWS
China is set to impose duties on Australian wine of between 107 and 212 per cent from tomorrow following an “anti-dumping” inquiry announced as part of a suite of measures in past months targeting Australian exports.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has determined that Australian exporters have been dumping wine into its market.
“There is dumping of imported wines originating in Australia … (and) it has been substantive,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website this morning.
“There is a causal relationship between dumping and material damage and it has been decided to implement temporary anti-dumping measures … in the form of a deposit from November 28.”
The ministry said the “margin ratio” for the deposit would be between 107.1 per cent and 212.1 per cent.
It said the investigation had been conducted in “strict accordance with relevant Chinese laws and regulations and WTO (World Trade Organisation) rules”.
China is Australia’s largest wine export market with $1.2 billion worth shipped last financial year. South Australia is responsible for 50 per cent of Australian production.
After learning today of this reaction by our largest wine trading destination - China, and how the big brand wine conglomerates have completely stuffed up the trading opportunities for smaller quality boutique producers of Australian wine, this article is written in not just anger towards these massive share price focussed wine companies, but dismay and sadness for the boutique wine producers who have done the right thing!
The time is now for Wine Australia to stand up and be counted, it is now time to start putting the passion back into the quality and premium brand of Australian wine and stop being the whipping boy for these share driven corporate megalomaniacs who hold and use up Government funding to only further their own desire for world domination!
Wine is a product of quality & passion, it's certainly not all about how many pallets of ordinary wine that can be dumped into the laps of large wine consuming countries!
The wine dumping lessons of the USA in 2013 obviously were not learned with the trouble the large brand Australian wine producers got us into, where they eventually had to take responsibility for creating false sales and numbers to make the numbers look great for shareholders!
Time is now to work hard on making up and regaining the credibility for the problems these conglomerates have now caused us with China, as the new super high tariff scales will now make our wines a last option for the wine distributors and drinkers of that country to consider buying.
Australian wine has historically been, in the majority of international markets, a super premium quality brand, but has in more recent times fallen in perception due to the global domination ideals and actions by some companies. Allowing the country to be run by top heavy corporate wine conglomerates who dictate and change how we are perceived on the global wine platform is as now shown today, a pathway to disaster.
There has to be now a positive plan of reparation and humility to once more regain the trust of our largest trading partner and stop pandering to those who would rather lay blame on their doorstep for our very own mistakes.
I personally know of 3 major distributors in China I deal with, who have all reported the same thing when it comes to trade with Australia... "we have far too much cheap Australian wine and are given no option but to buy many pallets of cheap wine to access the iconic brands", and this has been said to me for several years.
It has now come to this day unfortunately...
Time to change the mindset Australia, we need to regain trust and resume fair and quality trade as soon as we can.
Dame Vivienne Westwood once said.."Buy less, choose well: that's the maxim. Quality not Quantity. Thats the most environmentally friendly thing you can do"
#wineaustralia #australianwine #china #australia #mendtherift #tariffs #trade #boutique #qualityfirst #trading #qualitynotquantity #viviennewestwood #qualitynotquantity
"I draw from my business, educational and psychology background to help equip people of all ages with the tools and strategies to live their best life personally and professionally." Let me help you.
4 年It seems short-sightedness can be convenient rather than looking historically into the matter. There's always a story behind a story. Thanks Andrew Roper for shedding some history and truth on this volatile situation that is building in momentum. I look forward to more updates. Cheers Gail
Passionate about wine and profitable wine companies.
4 年Interesting article Andrew. I am based in Beijing and whilst there is still a lot of Australian wine in the pipeline it will be interesting to see the implications, particularly how strong of a brand Penfolds will be. My view is that a lot of consumers will switch to other brands and countries.
Sales Director - Overstory Wines
4 年Very well written Andrew couldn't agree more!