The owner of Sixty Eight Roses and Riverland grape grower Yianni Koutouzis has stressed that the removal of Chinese tariffs on Australian wine wouldn’t be an immediate solution to the South Australian region’s wine crisis.
South Australia is the nation’s biggest wine-producing state, and local producers have cautiously welcomed Beijing’s decision.
The state’s wine exports to China peaked in October 2020 — a month before the tariffs were introduced — at $946 million, which made up almost half of SA’s global wine exports, according to the state government. By January 2024, they were valued at a mere $2.8 million.
“It’s a crisis at the moment in the Riverland, it’s a very, very serious matter, and it’s something that needs to get addressed pretty quickly, and hopefully this [the tariff removal] will give some sort of relief for us,” Mr Koutouzis told ABC News.
China made an announcement on Thursday, March 28 that heavy tariffs on Australian wine would end the next day.
Source: ABC News.
