Cheap wine, rock lobster to flow in SA amid China trade tensions

Expect to see cheaper red wine – and lobster prices are likely to stay low, as the China trade tensions hit SA markets.

Andrew Ferguson, managing director of Ferguson Australia, a large exporter of South Australian Rock Lobsters. Picture: The Australian/Morgan Sette

Rock lobster is predicted to remain at cheap prices for months to come, and red wine could be the next product with discounted prices amid the China trade crisis.

Shaw + Smith co-owner David LeMire predicted entry level red wines would drop in price by about 10-20 per cent in the next few months after China imposed tariffs of up to 212 per cent on Australian products.

“There could certainly be some bargains for consumers, for sure,” he said.

“The bigger impact will be with the wine for 2021 – people have got to make decisions about what gets picked and what gets made into wine. There should be a bit of excess wine flow through later this year. There’s already containers not being sent and containers coming back to Australia.”

Mr LeMire said about 90 per cent of Australia’s wine exports to China were reds, and while the country took in a lot of premium products, it also accounted for high volumes of “everyday reds”.

Ferguson Australia managing director Andrew Ferguson said lobster retail prices of around $75/kg – about $50 less than normal – would be around for some time because of the Chinese market falling away.

“There’s so much uncertainty, and I don’t see that changing,” Mr Ferguson said.

Ferguson Australia owns seafood supply businesses in Port Lincoln, Port MacDonnell and Hendon, and in the lead up to Christmas, secured a deal to supply lobster to 40 Drakes stores in SA.

From January 15, it will also send frozen lobster to 20 Queensland stores, with interest in the luxury seafood tipped to spike again around Australia Day.

“Customers I’ve spoken to are saying they’re glad to be able to buy it for the price, but also buy a South Australian product and look out for a South Australian company,” Mr Ferguson said.

He said SA usually produced about 1600 tonnes of southern rock lobster each year – more than Victoria and Tasmania, which also fished for the species.

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