China’s anti-dumping investigation into Australian wine is politically motivated, industry figures say
- Some Australian wines are discounted on e-commerce sites in China, though insiders reject allegations of cheap wine dumping, given its high production costs
- Ministry of Commerce probe could take more than a year, but there are concerns that thousands of jobs may be lost in Australia before investigation concludes
Some established and well-known Australian wines can be found heavily discounted on Chinese e-commerce sites, but most such listings show them being sold at similar or higher prices compared with those down under.
And rather than indicate that Australian wine is being systemically dumped at low prices in China, industry experts say political motivations seem to be behind an anti-dumping investigating into Australian wine that China initiated last week.
On popular Chinese e-commerce sites Pingduoduo, Tmall and Taobao, some bottles of wine were found to be cheaper than those sold at well-known Australian budget alcohol retailers First Choice Liquor and Dan Murphy’s.
However, winemakers say such discounts appear to be more of a sales tactic to lure new customers, who might then buy more expensive wine. And this, they said, did not reflect a prevalence of cheap wine dumping, as it is nearly impossible to price down Australian wines, given their high production costs.
It appears that Australia, whose industries will be hit harder, is just trying to hit back, and this is disappointing
China’s Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) commenced the investigation after the China Alcoholic Drinks Association made a complaint on behalf of the domestic industry last month.
The probe, which will look at whether Australian wines have been sold at lower prices in China than in Australia, could lead to the imposition of anti-dumping duties on future exports of Australian wines, rendering them less competitive.