China-Australia relations: winemakers up Hong Kong shipments ‘hoping the door will open’ as Beijing ponders lifting tariffs
- China has been lifting trade barriers on other Australian goods as relations improve, with expectations wine tariffs will be removed next month
- Data shows winemakers sent almost 2.5 million litres of wine worth US$65.5 million to Hong Kong in December, up from around 685,000 litres a month in recent years
Australian winemakers have shipped millions of bottles of wine to Hong Kong in a bet that China will soon lift tariffs on Australian imports and revive a trade worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to industry figures and trade data.
Australia sent wine worth almost US$800 million to China in the year to November 2020, when Beijing responded to a call in Canberra for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19 by blocking imports.
But China has been lifting trade barriers on other goods as relations improve and Australian officials and industry expect a review of the wine tariffs begun by Beijing last year will lead to their removal next month.
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