NO SOUR GRAPES AT CHINA HURDLES
THE new chief of Treasury Wine Estates has provided an upbeat assessment of the winemaker’s trading performance despite the threat of its business in China being crunched by a trade war.
Tim Ford has also revealed work on the possible demerger of its valuable Penfolds brand has been paused as it focuses on trading through the COVID19 crisis, restructuring its US business and dealing with an anti-dumping investigation by Chinese authorities.
Addressing his first annual general meeting since formally taking over as chief at the start of July, Mr Ford said the company was seeing an upturn in demand despite COVID-19.
This was also evident in China, the first market hit by the coronavirus, where Treasury’s brands such as Penfolds and Wolf Blass were again appearing on banquet tables, Mr Ford said.
“Across Asia we have seen progressive and consistent recovery of demand month on month,” he said.
Turning to China and the announcement in August of anti-dumping investigations into Australian wine exports, Mr Ford said the company remained focused on the longterm value and prospects of its business in the region.
On Wednesday, Treasury Wine advised the market that the Chinese Alcoholic Drinks Association had applied to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce requesting that imports of Australian wine in containers of two litres or less into China be subject to retrospective tariffs.
“These investigations do not change our long-term commitment to China and we will continue to focus on building our brands in this market, and further developing the deep relationships,” Mr Ford said.