Australian wine industry bigwigs are calling for a fast pivot to other markets, more than a week on from China’s introduction of devastating import tariffs on Australian wine.
Shortly after meeting with Trade Minister Simon Birmingham and Agriculture Minister David Littleproud to discuss the nation’s trading future, Australian Grape & Wine chief executive Tony Battaglene said Australia’s agricultural exporters needed to diversify trade relationships.
This would be necessary to avoid producers being left abandoned and called for Canberra to commit to diversify Australia’s international trade long-term and for federal minsters to begin the international negotiation process right away.
South Australian Wine Industry Association chief executive Brian Smedley said SA exported to over 100 countries around the globe, “so to some extent we already know the markets”.
“There are some existing or new exporters who may wish to explore these markets and industry bodies and government may need to provide some introductions in lesser known markets,” Mr Smedley told The SE Voice.
Coonawarra Vignerons president Pete Balnaves agreed with Mr Smedley’s comments, saying there were very few markets worldwide that Australian wine was not in already.
Up until the current impasse with China, Australian wine had faced allocation restrictions on the amount of product that could enter different markets, like the United States and across the European Union.
Mr Balnaves explained that, with fewer bottles of premium Australian wine now going to China, there was potentially more stock available for other markets.
“It’s not necessarily all bad news,” Mr Balnaves told The SE Voice. “Australia has a reputation in wine, in particular, on over delivering for value.”
He pointed to the US and UK as “long term, substantial markets” that could immediately increase their allocations of Australian wine, with recent news emphasising such a move as a real possibility.
Mr Balnaves, who is also the vineyard manager of Balnaves of Coonawarra, added that he expected individual companies to focus on Australian markets.
In the short-term, however, the entire wine export supply chain will be under enormous strain.
“I do not think there’s any particular region that might be hit any more or any less than any others,” Mr Balnaves said. “What the trickle-down effect will be is a bit unknown.
“It’s so important that this is dealt with appropriately by the powers that be, so we can only hope that, going forward, that that begins to happen,” he said.
