China announced on Thursday March 28 that it would lift the surcharges that have targeted wine from Australia since 2020, imposed in a context of diplomatic tensions between these two close trading partners. These surcharges, put in place in the name of supposed anti-dumping practices, had the effect of doubling, or even tripling, the price of Australian bottles in China.
From now on, “it is no longer necessary to continue to impose anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties”, said the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, as relations between Beijing and Canberra heat up. Dumping, of which Beijing accused Canberra, is a practice which consists, in particular, of selling abroad at prices lower than those charged on the national market.
China is Australia’s largest trading partner. But the two countries have been at loggerheads in recent years, particularly since Australia requested an investigation in 2020 into the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic. Beijing considered this request politically motivated.
China then issued a thinly veiled threat to boycott Australian products, particularly wine and beef. Customs surcharges on Australian barley were subsequently imposed. They were lifted in August 2023, following a warming of relations between Beijing and Canberra.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited China in November to formally seal the thaw in relations between the two countries.