Andrew Calabria is busy crushing 20,000 tonnes of fruit at the family’s Riverina winery in New South Wales. This year delivered a bumper crop and after many years in drought, the family hoped to see their fortunes rise.
Beijing has launched trade strikes against a range of Australian products including coal, barley, beef, lobster and timber, with diplomatic relations in the doldrums.“It's been such a harsh couple of weeks going into vintage knowing that the wine would stop flowing into the China market,” said Mr Calabria, who is a third-generation wine producer and the president of the Riverina Winemakers Association.
“The industry is resilient, and we've gone through many difficult times,” Mr Calabria said. “But this will be tough, no doubt about it.” Andrew's grandfather Francesco Calabria arrived in Australia in 1929, following his great-grandfather Domenico who had migrated from Southern Italy. “My grandfather Francesco's homemade wine started to find commercial success with the influx of Europeans who migrated over to Australia and were looking for it,” Mr Calabria said. The family still celebrates its Italian heritage in many aspects of the wine business.
Mr Battaglene says while the Calabrias run a well-established winery, many of the smaller producers will suffer."Those who purely export to China or at least export 80 per cent [to China], they're really going to struggle. A large number will either have to find new outlets rapidly or exit the industry.
Too sad for those operators and employees. I own cotton farm in xinjiang, come and work for me. 🎣
Then US should buy them.
Yeah? And? If your company depends on China to exist.. You need to take a good hard look at how you run things. Who cares about the luxurys of oppressive regimes enough to be a supplier of said luxury’s anyway
US should buy the 39% of our wine exports.
'busy crushing 20,000 tonnes of fruit at the family’s Riverina winery' So that's approx 1.5 million bottles worth...not exactly a small business is it? Farming is like any other industry, just better at taking family pics.
That's not the fault of PM and other politics. This is about the confrontation of two ideologies: Freedom and Communism!
This is very sad news for small wine manufacturers. Sadly, greed is good in this country. Nothing is going to happen until we stop sending iron ore and other commodities they need.
For China to buy wheat or iron ore the have to buy wine, 2 can play at this game
Latest tantrum
Sell to Australians
It's no ccp's fault. It's Morrison's fault? Stupid people
Sell our products elsewhere. Chinese are not worth the bother. They have no honour and can’t be trusted. They only seek to steal IP and push their kooky ideology.
🐜💩
IMHO who can help circumvent this?
Initiated by Morrison again
Thanks Mr Morrison. Thanks Ms Payne. You Trump inspired idiocy against our largest trading partner continues to cause ever increasing damage.
Find new markets, Australia should not be trading with China and compromising our security and values ?
It's like we woke up to find that China invented protectionism. It didn't! Europe, America, Australia etc have all found it convenient to dump tariffs on imports for one reason or another. For decades we did it to protect Holden and Ford. China is just following a norm.
We need politicians to find us another lucrative market.
Maybe Mr. Morrison should try to apply an award from XI
Reopen the borders for international students LetUsBackToAus JoshFrydenberg
Eggs. Basket. Simples.
taiwan can help
china’s forced de-coupling. At least we’re waking up. Let this be a lesson to any business that relies on chinese communists for their existence.
Hard to feel sorry for any business that needs China to survive.. If you can’t diversify enough to make money domestically.. You need to rethink your business plan.
China mongrels need international condemnation.
Many true blues would like to help as long as you don’t kowtow. We can even promote to other overseas markets too.
It’s not ‘Australia and China’s trade spat’ That’s a gross misrepresentation of the situation. This is trade coercion and punishment for Australia for asserting our sovereignty. Has Australia slapped tariffs on China? No
Australia started it. ScoMo volunteered Australia to 'take one for the team', Team USA or Team Trump that is, by imposing tariffs of over 100% on a raft of Chinese goods including steel via the Australian Anti-Dumping Commission. It was ludicrous because China was our main buyer.
Well elite pissheads, elite mobster connections, and elite MIC twats go to the same schools and hang out on each other's taxpayer and tax-cut funded yachts and estates. The CPC are no fools. They know who the megacultists, warmongers, and bullies really are. Drunks blow, anyway.
Time to stop trading with the regime.