Tax threat hits French wine exports to China

The Chinese government’s threat of an anti-dumping tax on European wines has led Chinese importers to take extreme measures, with some rushing to stockpile French wine and others putting shipments on hold.

China’s threat of an anti-dumping tax on European wines has led some importers to stockpile and others to sit on their hands

According to AFP, China’s anti-dumping probe into European wine has created a “backdrop of uncertainty” that has left buyers sitting on their hands.

“The investigation has triggered a wait-and-see attitude from our Chinese customers who prefer to postpone deliveries rather than take the risk of seeing them subject to additional duties when they arrive in two months time,” Georges Haushalter, chairman of the CIVB, told AFP.

Meanwhile, other press reports suggest the opposite – that importers are rushing to stockpile supplies before the tax is implemented later this year.

Under threat? Bordeaux will be hit hardest if the anti-dumping tax goes ahead

Benoit Malaggi, director of French wine and spirits logistics company Humann and Taconet, said an urgency on the part of Chinese importers for wine to be shipped as soon as possible had doubled his shipment rates from six containers a week to a dozen.

Malaggi claims the rush is due to the fact that no additional tax will be applied on European wine shipped before the anti-dumping tax is imposed.

Bordeaux stands to be hit harder than any other European wine region by the tax, as China has grown to become Bordeaux’s biggest export market, buying one in every five bottles of wine produced in the southwestern French region.

“While we wait for the discussion to be resolved, we are already seeing a slowdown in sales, or an increase in orders being delayed, ” Bernard Farges, president of the Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur wine syndicate, told AFP.

French trade minister Nicole Bricq attempted to ease fears of a trade war at Vinexpo in Bordeaux this week, saying: “China’s anti-dumping investigation will take six to eight months, which gives us plenty of time to negotiate with them.”

According to China’s biggest wine importer, ASC Fine Wines, calls for an anti-dumping tax on European wines began in 2012 when a group of Chinese winemakers filed a petition to the Ministry of Commerce complaining that imported European wines were given unfair government subsidies and damaged the development of domestic wine production in China.