After bushfires, drought and COVID-19, Australian wine producers have been dealt another blow with China set to impose significant anti-dumping duties on Australian wine from Saturday.
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The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has determined that Australian exporters have been dumping wine into its market, a claim disputed by prominent Hunter vigneron Bruce Tyrrell.
"There is dumping of imported wines originating in Australia ... (and) it has been substantive," the ministry said in a statement on its website.
"There is a causal relationship between dumping and material damage and it has been decided to implement temporary anti-dumping measures ... in the form of a deposit from November 28."
The ministry said the investigation had been conducted in "strict accordance with relevant Chinese laws and regulations and WTO (World Trade Organisation) rules".
Mr Tyrrell said he did not believe there was a case to answer.
"Ninety-nine per cent of producers export wine to China legally and above board," he said.
The "margin ratio" for the deposit is set to be between 107.1 per cent and 212.1 per cent.
Mr Tyrrell said those rates sent a clear message that China did not want Australian wine in its market.
"The thing is though, the Chinese wine consumer really likes Australian wine, so I'm not sure how happy the consumer is going to be," he said.
He said it was a tough pill to swallow after a year riddled with drought, bushfires and COVID-19.
"The timing's not great after the last 12 months," Mr Tyrrell said. "But it's just something Australia has to face."
When the dumping accusations first arose several months ago, Tyrrell's began looking into other markets including South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
"We've just opened market in Uzbekistan and we're talking to middle African nations," he said. "But we can put those together and they won't be as big as China."
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