Australian producers are reportedly reaching out to Chinese wineries to find ways around the anti-dumping tariffs.
Australian winemakers have begun visiting Chinese wine regions such as Qinghai and Ningxia to conduct field study and discuss potential cooperation, reported The Sydney Morning Herald. In particular, representatives from Australian wine giants Treasury Wine Estates and Accolade Wines made recent trips to the vineyards surrounding Helan Mountain in Ningxia located in northwest China.
It is thought that Australian producers are looking for a way around the blockade, as the tariffs are applied to Australian bottles being exported from Australia, not Australian-branded wine produced in China or elsewhere. There are also rumours of potential investment by Australian wine companies in Chinese wineries.
According to The Herald, Chinese producers welcome the idea of partnering with Australian wine companies and appear to have “rolled out the welcome mat”.
Ma Rui, manager of Xige Estate in Yongning County, told The Herald that China was in an entirely different stage of its wine evolution compared with other wine producing countries and have much to benefit from teaming up with Australian producers. “Even the youngest wine-producing countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, Chile and South Africa have more than 100 years of wine-making history,” he said. “We need to master this within 10 to 20 years. Thus, modern management is a must. Australia is very powerful at agricultural modernisation. It produces very good standardised wines and is our strong future reference.”
Peter Dixon, managing director of Accolade Wines Asia said in a statement that the company has long-established commercial relationships in China.
“We are always open to investigating opportunities to grow the Accolade Wines business around the world, however, we can confirm that there is no planned investment in a winery within China,” he said.
Treasury declined to comment.
