News
Crippling Chinese tariffs on Australian wine have resulted in the value of exports to its once-biggest customer plummeting from $325 million to just $12 million in the past four months.
Business
Publicly listed wine company Australian Vintage Limited has reported a 15 per cent increase in wine crush this year after a strong 2021 vintage.
Get InDaily in your inbox. Daily. The best local news sent straight to your inbox every workday at lunchtime.
Thanks for signing up to the InDaily newsletter.
Australia’s Trade Minister says it’s “deeply frustrating” that China refuses to discuss its “unacceptable” targeting of Australian exports, with lamb joining wine, beef, coal, barley and timber on the unofficial hit list and wheat and cotton producers bracing as the trade dispute worsens.
South Australian wineries are already looking to cut staff, reduce contracts with grape growers and cancel bottling runs in the wake of harsh tariffs that have halted wine exports to China.
Wine, coal, barley, lobsters and timber have been targeted in recent months, but it’s iron ore exports to China that should be the main concern for Australia’s economy. And that should prompt a focus on alternatives to underpin future prosperity, argue Rod Tyers and Yixiao Zhou.
China says some Australian coal imports have failed to meet environmental standards, amid reports that 53 bulk carriers holding more than five million tonnes of Australian coal worth $500 million have been stranded off Chinese ports for a month, anchored and unable to unload.
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham is leaving the door open to taking China to the World Trade Organisation over barriers to Australian goods.
