China puts tariffs of up to 200 per cent on Australian wine - ABC News

The Chinese Government has announced it will place tariffs on all Australian wine imports from tomorrow, striking a blow to the $1.2 billion-a-year industry.

Key points:

• The new tariffs will range from 107 to 200 per cent
• They come after China's Commerce Ministry instructed importers to suspend orders of Australian wine
• The action follows months of trade uncertainty and souring relations between Australia and China

It follows the preliminary findings of a Chinese anti-dumping investigation into Australia's wine exports that found that dumping exists and causes Chinese winemakers "substantial harm".

China has accused Australian producers of selling wine for below the cost of production.

The investigation is not due to finish until next year, but China's Commerce Ministry announced that from November 28, importers of Australian wine entering China will need to pay temporary "anti-dumping security deposits".

The deposits, which effectively work like tariffs, will range from between 107 per cent to more than 200 per cent.

The move comes after China's Commerce Ministry gave informal instructions to importers to suspend orders of wine and six other types of Australian exports earlier this month.

Shares in Treasury Wine Estates, one of Australia's largest exporters, plunged 11 per cent this morning as the news was being confirmed.

The company initially paused trading and then confirmed it will be in a halt until Tuesday.

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Tony Battaglene from Australian Grape and Wine said the tariffs would make it incredibly difficult for Australian wine exporters.

"The China market is a big market for us, but also some of our major competitors, particularly from Europe, are [now] given a tariff advantage of 100-200 per cent [which] is going to make it very difficult to compete … it won't be good," he said.

Mr Battaglene said there were hundreds of shipping containers of Australian wine building up at ports across China since an unofficial ban on imports came into effect earlier this month.

He said the industry was unaware of any wine that had cleared China's customs since the ban, and subsequently large numbers of wine exporters had withheld from shipping wine from Australia.

"I can't remember a year like this. This is the biggest single challenge we have ever faced in such an important market for us," Mr Battaglene said.

"We need to be able get through this and work with both the Australian and Chinese Government to resolve this."

The announcement of a wine tariff comes amid souring trading relations that have seen China impose import tariffs on Australian barley.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud and Trade Minister Simon Birmingham are expected to speak this afternoon.

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2020-11-27 02:20:00Z
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