Australia's surge in wine exports to China begins to slow

29/4/2025 14:43

Australia's wine export boom to China that followed an improvement in relations between the two countries is showing signs of slowing, amid a broader global decline in the number of bottles headed to the world's second-largest economy.



China is the Australian wine industry's most lucrative overseas market but its consumption of wine is falling sharply, amid a more gradual decline worldwide.

Beijing's lifting of tariffs on March 29 last year triggered a surge in exports. Australia shipped just over A$1 billion of wine to China in the 12 months to March 31 this year, data from industry body Wine Australia show.



That amount is just short of the record A$1.15 billion exported in the year to March 31, 2020 and follows a period of more than three years during which trade restrictions were in place and Australia shipped negligible amounts of wine to China.



However, exports have slowed after the initial rush, totalling A$126 million in the first three months of 2025, the least for any January-to-March quarter since 2016.



The influx of bottles from Australia in 2024 led to the first annual increase in China's wine imports since 2018, Chinese customs figures accessed using Trade Data Monitor show.