Wine exports to China for the December 2020 to March 2021 period have fallen to $12 million compared with $325 million in the comparable period a year ago. A similar decline is expected when Wine Australia publishes its April to June export figures later in July.
Over the past decade, exports to China had grown steadily. The peak was $1.28 billion in 2019, about 44 per cent of all wine exports by value.
the Ministry of Commerce in China announced anti-dumping and countervailing investigations in August 2020. Interim countervailing import duties of 6.3–6.4 per cent were imposed, and anti-dumping tariffs of between 116.2 per cent and 218.4 per cent on bottled Australian wine on November 28.
The import tariffs were extended for a further five years on March 28 this year.