In today’s talking points, Chinese demand drives Aussie wine exports to $2b in 2018, Price rises for China’s farm produce, and EU Beef Quota Split may Affect Australia-EU’s Free Trade Agreement, Trade Minister Warns
Chinese Demand Drives Aussie Wine Exports to $2b in 2018
The value of Australia’s wine exports grew 10% to A$2.82 billion($2 billion) in 2018. Wine Australia announced recently that 94 million nine-litre cases of Australian wine were sold around the world in 2018, up 5 percent from 2017.
Red wine remained the biggest seller and now accounts for 76% of Australia’s total wine exports. However, despite China spending almost three times as much as any other country on Australian wine, Britain still imported the highest volume.
“We’re in a really strong position in China, in terms of the continuing trade’s appreciation for what Australian wine has to offer across all our price points, so we have a really solid platform of what we’re taking to market there,” Andreas Clark, chief executive officer of Wine Australia, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Andreas also mentioned that Chinese market is the major one and it’s where Wine Australia need to play in the longer term.
The export volume of wines worth between A$100 and A$200 ($71-$142) per bottle grew 92%, comfortably the strongest growth by any price point. The value of exports to other major markets including Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan all rose by at least 12%.
The United States remained the second most lucrative market for Australian wines despite the value of exports to the country falling 5% to A$425 million ($302 million).
Source: China Daily
Price Rises for China’s Farm Produce
According to the Ministry of Commerce, the price index for farm produce increased 1 precent from the previous week, but the index for production materials remained the same. The average wholesale price of 30 types of vegetables went up 5.1%, compared with a 0.5% rise one week earlier. The wholesale price of eggs rose 1.6% from the previous week. The price of beef went up 0.8% and lamb went up 0.1%.
Food accounts for about one-third of China’s consumer price index (CPI). China’s CPI, a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.1% year on year in 2018, well below the government’s annual target of around 3%.
Source: China Daily
EU Beef Quota Split may Affect Australia-EU’s Free Trade Agreement, Trade Minister Warns
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has expressed his concerns on European Union’s changes to quotas for hormone-free beef and its impact on Australia’s negotiations with EU for a free-trade agreement in his recent visits to Brussels.
The change of quota is related to EU’s split of farm import quota with Britain after Brexit, and could cast a pall over the AUD238 million trade between Australia and Brussels.
Under the EU quota system, exporting countries such as Australia are only allowed to distribute a restricted amount of beef at reduced or zero tariffs. Currently, the quota for Australia is 7150 tonnes, with an extra 45,000-tonne quota shared by another five countries including New Zealand and the US.
Source: Australia Financial Review