STORY: Australian winemaker looks to go deep into Chinese market
SHOOTING TIME: March 17, 2024
DATELINE: April 3, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:08
LOCATION: ADELAIDE, Australia
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the winery of Teusner Wines in Barossa Valley
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): KYM TEUSNER, Owner of Teusner Wines
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): FIONA YAO, Sales manager of Teusner Wines export

STORYLINE:

When Kym Teusner loaded the first shipment of Teusner Wines to Beijing in 2006 to tap the Chinese market, he did not think that his brands would become highly sought after among wine critics who were looking for small production but very high-quality Barossa producers in one of Australia's oldest wine regions in Adelaide.
   
Teusner has been producing wines under the Teusner brand for 20 years in the Barossa Valley, one of the world's great wine-producing areas in South Australia, since 2002.
   
Emerging from a very small winery 22 years ago to focus heavily on old wine fruits from vineyards that were up to 130 years of age, Teusner Wines grew rapidly over the past decade, with an annual production capacity of about 3,000 tons and a very strong global reputation, Teusner told Xinhua.
   
China's Ministry of Commerce announced on March 28 that the country would lift anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on Australian wine from March 29. The anti-dumping tariffs were imposed on March 28, 2021 for a five-year period.
   
Australia's wine exports to China were worth 1.1 billion Australian dollars (some 713 million U.S. dollars) in 2019.

"I'm pretty excited about the next few years," said Teusner, who has about 200 hectares of vineyards now.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): KYM TEUSNER, Owner of Teusner Wines
"So excited to just receive the news that the tariffs have been dropped by the Chinese customs. And we're allowed, once again to export wines back into China. I'm really excited to re-enter the market and have the wines represented back in China again. Our first approach will be to reconnect with our existing customers back on the market and get a feeling for what the market's expecting of us now. I'm sure a lot of things have changed in China in the last three or four years. So we really just need to get back on the ground and work out what the expectation of Australian wine in the market is at the current point in time." 

Fiona Yao, sales manager of Teusner Wines export, was one of the first Chinese people to enter the Australian wine industry in Barossa Valley 15 years ago.

"Most wineries are very eager to return to the Chinese market," she said.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): FIONA YAO, Sales manager of Teusner Wines export
"The lifting of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on Australian wine is very good news for us. In the next one to two months, we will ship the first batch of products back to the Chinese market. In short, returning to the Chinese market is very good news for us, and everyone is very excited."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Adelaide, Australia.
(XHTV)