Australia is optimistic the nation’s wine trade with China will fully recover after sales surged following the end of punitive tariffs.
The country shipped more than A$86 million ($57 million) of wine to China in the first month after duties were removed, with the majority of shipments from South Australia, according to a government statement on Wednesday.
“This is a really important step in the wine industry starting to turn a corner after what has been a really difficult period,” Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said during a press conference with Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell.
China was Australia’s biggest wine export destination in 2019 before relations soured after then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an international investigation into the origins of Covid-19. Tariffs were removed at the end of March, raising hopes for a revival of the billion-dollar industry.
