China to levy import duties on Australian wine starting Saturday – Commerce Ministry

Beijing, Nov 27 (Bureau) China will begin imposing tariffs on Australian wine starting Saturday, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said Friday. This August, Beijing announced an anti-dumping probe into imported Australian wine at request from Chinese wine producers.

“The investigation has found out dumping [practices] in the corresponding Australian wine imports, which caused damage to national wine producers. Moreover, we have established that there was a causal link between the dumping and substantial losses,” the ministry said in a statement. From Saturday onward, Australian wine exporters will be paying to the customs a security deposit, ranging from 107.1 percent to 212.1 percent, depending on a wine producer. The measure will cover wine imported in 2 liter (0.5 gallon) bottles or less. China is Australia’s major trade partner and the biggest market for Australian wine. Australian winemakers are said to have exported over $900 million worth of their product to China.