China-Australia relations: wine traders eye spirits to ‘survive’ crippling disruptions
- With China having imposed anti-dumping duties of up to 218.4 per cent on Australian wine, some exporters are being forced to diversify away from the once-lucrative industry
- The alcoholic beverage export business to China is still viable, but insiders say political risks must be managed
Relations between China and Australia have become fraught over the past year after Canberra pushed for an international probe into the origin of the coronavirus without diplomatic consultations beforehand, and Beijing has responded with a number of trade blocks on wine, barley, cotton, copper, coal, sugar and lobsters. We look at the issues in this series.
For years, manning a booth at a beverages trade fair hosted by either the federal or local governments of Australia meant one thing to South Australian wine exporter Michele Zhuang: selling wine.
Earlier this month, however, her staff in China attended a South Australian government-hosted fair in Chengdu, Sichuan province, not just to promote wine, but also to test the Chinese appetite for Australian spirits such as whisky and gin.
For Zhuang, this new venture to tap into the spirits-export market forms part of her plan to diversify away from the once-lucrative Australian wine export industry that has been crippled by newly imposed Chinese anti-dumping duties of up to 218.4 per cent.
A year ago this week, Canberra pushed for an international inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus without diplomatic consultations with Beijing. Since then, Beijing has imposed several trade restrictions on Australian exports such as coal, barley, wine, beef and lobsters.