China’s sour grapes
CHINA’S move to slap tariffs on Australian wine makers after an anti-dumping investigation will kill off the industry, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has warned.
The massive blow for Australian businesses comes after China’s Commerce Ministry accused them of flooding it with cheap wine, in an effort to skew the market.
Temporary duties ranging from 107.1 per cent to 212.1 per cent will be implemented on Australian wine imports in 2L
containers or less from Saturday.
Senator Birmingham said the tax would probably see Chinese consumers turn away from high-quality wine because they would be unable to afford the price hikes.
“They will have the effect of rendering largely unmarketable, unviable to the China wine industry or the Chinese wine market, for Australian producers,” Senator Birmingham said. “This is a very distressing time for many hundreds of Australian wine producers, who have built in good faith a sound market in China.”
More than a third of Australian wine worth $1.07bn was exported to China in 2019-20 making it the top trading partner for the winemakers.
Preliminary findings from the anti-dumping investigation launched in August showed there was a “causal relationship between dumping and material damage”.
“There is dumping of imported wines originating in Australia, and the relevant domestic wine industry in China has been substantive,” the Chinese ministry said.
The Morrison government and industry met yesterday afternoon to discuss the 10day appeal process.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said it was a seriously ment fight.
“The Australian government categorically rejects any allegation that our wine producers are dumping product into China, and we continue to believe there is no basis or any evidence for these claims,” he said.
Beijing authorities have slapped trade sanctions on several industries during the past year. Australian ministers have also been unable to get their Chinese counterparts on the phone. concerning developthat Australia would