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.
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