China targets wine exporters in trade stoush

Wine makers and the federal government are rejecting allegations of Australian bottled wine being dumped in China.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has announced the 12 month investigation.

Grape and Wine Chief Executive Tony Battaglene told Deborah Knight dumping wine isn’t possible.

“This investigation focuses on our bottled wine, we’ve had three short vintages in a row, there’s not enough wine to go around, let alone dump it at a low cost,” Mr Battaglene said.

Listen to the full interview with Deb here: https://bit.ly/349KlHe

China is valued at a $1.1 billion a year industry for wine exporters.

An 80 percent tariff was slapped on our barley exports in May, following a similar claims from China.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud told rural editor Eddie Summerfield, the latest investigation highlights the need to diversify exports:

“We’re living in a volatile environment, and we need to make sure we understand the volatility of that, and make sure that we’re prepared to spread our wings, and spread our risk across other global markets,” Mr Littleproud said

The investigation should be completed in August next year.

Listen to the full interview with the agriculture minister above, or subscribe to the national rural news podcast here: http://bit.ly/RuralNewsPodcast