Australian wines working to capture benefits of JAEPA

Based on the first two months of 2015, Australian wine companies are starting to reap the benefits of the Japan–Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (JAEPA).

Under JAEPA, the 15 per cent import tariff on Australian bottled wine will be eliminated over 7 years.

The first reduction of 1.875 per cent on bottled wine occurred on 15 January 2015, and the second round of cuts come into effect today (1 April 2015), reducing the tariff on bottled Australian wine to 11.3 per cent.

The tariff on bulk wine was immediately reduced to zero under JAEPA.

Andreas Clark, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Grape and Wine Authority (AGWA) said, ‘While the data is only for a short period, when compared with January and February 2014, Australian wine exports to Japan increased in volume by 63 per cent and in value by 17 per cent in the first two months of calendar 2015.

‘Reflecting the zero per cent tariff on bulk containers, the majority of the increase was in wines under $2.49 per litre, however growth was seen at all price points except in the $2.50–$4.99 segment. For example, exports of wines over $10 per litre increased by 25 per cent and wines from $7.50 to $9.99 per litre increased by 37 per cent.

‘We are working to capture the benefits of JAEPA with a number of events in Japan in coming months.

‘These include participating in Austrade’s Australia Week in Japan in April, our annual Wine Australia Tasting in Tokyo scheduled for early September, and themed master classes in a number of Japanese cities’, he said.

The data comes from AGWA’s Wine Export Approvals database.