New Chinese wine import tariff on Australia to hit mostly small wineries

Wineries in some of Australia's premier wine regions are looking down the barrel of a difficult future with China's wine tariffs likely to put smaller wineries out of business and force larger growers into new markets.

After years of developing strong relationship with Chinese importers, a tariff with such high percentage (107% up to 200%) will affect all wineries selling to China, but especially those who have a big share destined to the Asian country.

Wines which normally sell for $25 a bottle will immediately see their price rise up to $75, for the same bottle.

Meanwhile competitor countries — France, Chile, and New Zealand — will not have to pay this tax, seeing as a most likely effect, even on most loyal Australian consumers, switching to a new wine country.

Australia's wine export industry to China is worth AUD $1.2 billion (USD $0.9 billion) annually. Probably, this number won't repeat if the temporary tariff stays during 2021.