Australian wine export: Hong Kong exports up despite China tariffs

A new report from Wine Australia shows that, despite Chinese tariffs, exports have been up significantly to one Asian city.

Australian wine continues to flow into Asia, and despite China shutting its doors, exports to Hong Kong were up 45 per cent last year.

Due to its status as a special administrative region of China, and therefore not bound by Chinese law, Hong Kong has continued to wave Australian wine through its port.

The latest Wine Australia report found in the 12 months to December 30 last year, exports to the city grew by 45 per cent to $192 million, while the average value of Australian wine exported was $22.37 a litre. This is much higher than the overall average value of exported Australian wine, which was $6.48 a litre.

Australian wine may be creeping into China via Hong Kong, with exports to the Chinese city up 45 per cent last year.

The feeling in the industry is that Hong Kong is acting as a path for a small amount of Australian wine to slip into China. But it’s a drop in the ocean given the size of the Chinese market was about $1 billion a year prior to the Chinese Government’s imposition of anti-dumping tariffs of between 116 and 218 per cent on bottled wine in November 2020.

Australian Grape and Wine chief executive Tony Battaglene said the increase in sales to Hong Kong was more than expected.

“It’s unlikely they’re consuming all that wine. We know there’s still demand in China,” Mr Battaglene said.

He said a handful of other export markets were growing, including Singapore, South Korea, India and Indonesia. But most Australian producers would be looking to capitalise on growth in the domestic market during Covid given the difficulty and expense of freight.

A loss of the Chinese market led to a sharp drop in Australian wine exports last year, which were down by 30 per cent in value to $2.03 billion.

The Federal Government this week announced AGW would be the recipient of a $1.817 million grant to explore new international export markets.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the money would improve market access, tackle trade barriers and generate growth in key markets.

Mr Battaglene said India would be a focus of their efforts, following the signing on Sunday between the two nations of a major interim free-trade deal hailed as a significant step in reducing Australia’s reliance on China.