Wine industry abuzz as bottles flow into China

After four years of heavy tariffs, Beijing lifted trade sanctions on Australian wine at the end of March, in a sign of thawing tensions between the two nations.

As a result, 9.8 million litres of bottled wine - valued at $142.2 million - was exported to China in May.

This was the fourth highest monthly figure for bottled wine exports to China since 2019 and is almost $50 million higher than the average monthly export value before the pandemic.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt is celebrating the recovery, saying it will bring joy to both winemakers and consumers.

"We know the past few years have been incredibly tough for Australia's wine sector, so to see these figures come through is just fantastic news for the whole industry," he said on Monday.

"This demonstrates the importance of the Albanese government's work to stabilise our relationship with China.

"That work is now delivering real dividends to Australian farmers and the whole (agriculture) industry."

Tariffs on a raft of Australian items were imposed at the height of diplomatic tensions in 2020 and made it unviable for producers to export goods to China.

Sanctions on barley were lifted in August, but remain imposed on two abattoirs and rock lobster.

Australian wine exports to China were worth $1.1 billion in 2019.

In the two months since trade has resumed, the value of wine exports to China has reached $228 million.

Australian Associated Press