Imagine, just for a second, the Australian wine industry as a bottle shop. For decades it had loyal customers overseas – old friends from the UK and the US partial to an antipodean drop.
Then a few years ago, a new customer walked in who began eyeing up the reds. Soon, not only were they spending double the other customers, but they were buying the high-end stuff, preferring the premium vintages.
China – this top customer – has bought close to 40% of Australia’s wine exports in the past few years.
In 2019, China bought more bottled wine from Australia than it did from France. After an intense few years of marketing and trade deals, this love affair with Australian winegrowers was fizzing along nicely.
Then last week it was corked in the neck. China slapped over 200% tariffs on bottled Australian wine, in a trade hit linked to deteriorating political relations. The one swift blow exposed again Australia’s economic dependence on Beijing.
‘Buy wine for democracy’
Wine is just the latest Australian export this year to be collateral damage in the wider political battle. Since May, a string of goods – barley, beef, copper, sugar, lobsters, timber, coal – have been halted or otherwise sanctioned by China’s Ministry of Commerce.