Aussie Wine Back on China’s Shelves, but Will It Sell?

An employee works as Australian-made wine (on display shelves on right) at a store in Beijing on Aug. 18, 2020, the same day that the Chinese regime ramped up tensions with Australia after it launched a probe into wine imports from the country, the latest salvo in an increasingly bitter row after the Australian government called for an probe into the origins of COVID-19. Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images

China is restocking its shelves with Australian wine, and exporters are toasting a surge in sales, but the industry remains realistic about the future of a market that has changed dramatically since its government imposed crippling tariffs four years ago.

Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) trade merchandise figures show that Australia’s biggest wine exporting state, South Australia (SA), sent more than $343 million (US$227.5 million) of wine to China in the three months after trade restrictions were lifted at the end of March.