Australian Grape and Wine Inc (Australian Grape & Wine) welcomes the Australian Government’s announcement that it has signed the Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement (A-HKFTA).

“Australian wine businesses appreciate the Australian Government’s commitment to the benefits of free trade, led by the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Simon Birmingham” said Tony Battaglene, CEO of Australian Grape & Wine.

The A-HKFTA presents a range of opportunities for Australian food and wine exporters. Australian wine businesses will benefit from the inclusion of a specific wine Annex which helps to streamline technical requirements such as wine labelling and certification.

“It is great to see yet another Australian Free Trade Agreement incorporating technical wine related provisions. These provisions go a long way towards providing greater certainty of market access and reducing the cost of doing business”, said Battaglene.

Technical barriers to trade can be the greatest hurdle to profitable trade. For this reason, we will continue to support efforts to achieve greater harmonisation of trading requirements, and encourage the Australian Government to include technical annexes specific to wine in Australia’s Free Trade Agreements.

Australian wine businesses exported more than $100 million worth of wine to Hong Kong in 2018 and maintained a strong market share at high price points, particularly for red wines.

“Australian Grape & Wine urges all parties to ensure the agreement passes through the Joint Standing Committee on Trade process as quickly as possible, in order for our winemakers and winegrape growers to capture the new opportunities in Hong Kong”, said Battaglene.