As China prepares to lift tariffs on Australian rock lobsters, other Australian exports have been trying for months to regain their slice of the Chinese market. Tariffs were lifted on most Australian beef and wine earlier this year but the effect of being shut out of the market for three years is still being felt.
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00:00In this Beijing restaurant, Australian beef is making a triumphant return to the Chinese
00:08market.
00:09It has become a staple across the country in most steakhouses and even some of the hot
00:13pot restaurants.
00:14But Australian wine is not.
00:17Yesterday I went to a local place called Marketplace, which is a high-end gourmet shop, to see,
00:23hey, are any of these new Australian wines on the shelves?
00:28There weren't any.
00:29And the staff told me they don't have any.
00:31So there may be wines pouring in, but there's a difference between imports and sales.
00:38China's trade war against Australia began in 2020, after then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison
00:44enraged Beijing by calling for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID.
00:50At the time, Australia was selling more wine to China than France, more than a billion
00:56dollars worth each year.
00:58When the tariffs came in, it just took the position to almost zero.
01:02Since August 2023, China has lifted trade barriers on most Australian beef, wine and
01:07barley, and now rock lobsters are expected to return by the end of the year.
01:13Beef has bounced back, but Australian wine has not.
01:18Having the absence of Australian wine actually allowed France and Chile to upscale their
01:25import-export business.
01:28So now they're doing a lot better in their quality assurance, and then they've also just
01:32taken over complete market share.
01:34Now it's run into yet another challenge, China's economic slowdown.
01:40In the months after the tariffs on wine were lifted, exports surged, worth more than $340
01:46million from April to June.
01:49But in July, the numbers dropped right off, and it's still hard to find an Australian
01:54drop in bars and restaurants here in China.
01:57Wine consumption overall decreased 24.7% year-on-year, which means the market has actually
02:03shrunk, and that's coupled with Australia being absent, it means that our market share
02:07has also decreased.
02:08There is some hope on the horizon.
02:11Ahead of China's major holiday period, the government announced a package of stimulus
02:15measures timed to get consumer spending back on track, with more to come.
02:21For domestic tourism and consumption in holidays, there is not a big problem.
02:29The problem may come after holidays when people can say, OK, I have spent a lot of money,
02:37so people will be more prone to save money, you know, and that is not good for the economy
02:43right now.
02:44Wine is an easy luxury to give up.
02:46It's a newly acquired luxury for many people, and it's quite expensive here.
02:51So if you're going to give anything up, that's what you're going to give up.