By Andy Young
With Free Trade Agreements (FTA) seeing tariffs on imported wines being cut in many key Asian markets, the Winemakers Federation of Australia has reminded its members that they need to be active in taking advantage.
The Federal Government’s Free Trade agenda has seen competitive advantages given to Australian winemakers in Japan, South Korea and China, by reducing and in some cases eliminating existing import tariffs. Last week TheShout reported that the tariff paid on Australian wine imports into China fell to 5.6 per cent, compared to the 14 per cent most other wine imports continue to pay.
But getting these reduced tariffs is not automatic. Australian wine exporters will need an additional document – FTA-specific Certificate of Origin (CoO) or Declaration of Origin (DoO) for shipments.
A short guide for exporters on how to use FTAs, including how to obtain an FTA-specific CoO/DoO, is available on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.
Tony Battaglene, Chief Executive of the Winemakers’ Federation of Australia, said: "Winemakers must actively take the steps to get the preferential tariff rates available under the FTAs, and we encourage all Australian winemakers to take advantage of them."
He added: "The demand for our premium wines in China continues to grow and the latest tariff cut will give us a further advantage over European and US wine. With a further tariff cut for bottled wine exports to Japan to come in on 1 April 2017 and South Korea having already eliminated tariffs for Australian wine, the Government’s Free Trade agenda is paying dividends for our industry."