WINE INDUSTRY FEARS TRADE LOSS WITH CHINA
AUSTRALIAN winemakers fear trade tensions with China could cripple an industry already struggling to bounce back from multimillion-dollar losses caused by drought and coronavirus.
Queensland businesses are bracing for what Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk yesterday called a “fullblown”
trade war after the Chinese Government announced it was prepared to slap an 80 per cent tariff on the Australian barley industry and blocked imports from three of the state’s major abattoirs.
Queensland Wine Industry Association president Mike Hayes said the sector was struggling enough without a government “witch hunt” to target China over the outbreak of the virus.
“It irks me so much to see we’re being restricted business-wise in our industry and we’re screaming out to try and have people come back and try our wine and then on top of that, a few larger ones (wineries) in the state, could lose one of their valuable lifelines, which is trading with our Asian partners – its just absurd,’’ he said.”
Witches Falls Winery owner Jon Heslop, who exports around 10 per cent of his wine to China from his Mount Tamborine winery, said although the export restrictions would create difficulties, it was important for Australia to diversify and have less reliance on the country. “This would not be the first time the Chinese Government put arbitrary barriers in front of the wine industry to prevent our exports to China,” he said yesterday.
However, Mount Tamborine Vineyard & Winery managing director Danielle Hart O’Regan said an oversupply would be good for the domestic market.