Penfolds’ maker hires Chinese-born exec ahead of tariff decision

Treasury Wine Estates bolsters its executive team as it awaits news of China’s review of its tariffs on Australian wine, which is expected to be completed early next year.

The former head of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, Peter Cai, is to join Treasury Wine Estates as a senior executive.

Mr Cai will start in the role of business development director and chief of staff at TWE’s Penfolds, on January 8, reporting directly to Penfolds managing director, Tom King.

“It’s an exciting time to be joining the business and I look forward to bringing my global business knowledge and strategy experience to the role,” he told The Australian on Monday.

The move to hire the Chinese-born Mr Cai comes as TWE is awaiting news of China’s review of its tariffs on Australian wine, which is expected to be completed in the next few months.

TWE was one of the biggest single foreign suppliers of wine to China before tariffs were first imposed on Australian imports from November 2020.

The tariffs were formalised at levels of more than 200 per cent in March 2021, delivering a harsh blow to the Australian wine industry.

Treasury Wine Estates has hired Peter Cai, former head of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, as it awaits news of China’s review of its tariffs on Australian wine. Picture: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

But there are now talks on the future of the tariffs following a review by the World Trade Organisation.

Mr Cai was group chief adviser and general manager for strategic relations at Virgin Australia, then 40 per cent owned by two Chinese corporate investors, before its collapse in 2020 because of Covid-19 travel restrictions.

TWE has maintained its commitment to China, exporting wines from other countries including France and the US into the China market and launching a Chinese made version of Penfolds.

TWE chief executive Tim Ford has said the company has a plan to re-enter the market with wines from Australia if the tariffs were dropped, but the company is now awaiting further progress.

Official unveiling of Treasury Wine Estate's new $165m state-of-the-art wine production facility with CEO Tim Ford, South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas and chief supply officer Kerrin Petty.

TWE’s Penfold division was run out of Shanghai by its chief executive Tom King before he moved back to Australia during Covid-19 for family reasons.

Mr King said Mr Cai had “extensive experience and knowledge across international business and strategy.”

“We’re delighted to have Peter join the team in Penfolds from the new year,” he said.

Mr Cai moved to Adelaide with his family from China, studying international studies and Asian studies at the University of Adelaide.

He worked for the Federal Treasury in Canberra at the Foreign Investment Review Board before becoming a journalist.

He has a master’s degree in history from Oxford University, and his career has included stints at the Lowy Institute.