"The big thing that's happened in the last four or five months is that we've overtaken France as the number one position in the market,"said Tony Battaglene,chief executive of Australian Grape and Wine,a group which represents growers.
The Chinese wine market has been a key battleground in the trade war,with China imposing three rounds of import duty increases that have hit US wine,of 15 per cent,10 per cent and 25 per cent
"US wine is now subject to a total levy of 106 per cent,including tariffs,a value-added tax,and an excise tax. These duties are having a marked impact on the profits of stakeholders along the chain – and this is impacting the competitive positioning of US wines,"the Rabobank report said.
In the first four months of 2019 Australia's share of the imported wine market jumped to 25.7 per cent,up from 19.8 per cent in the same period of 2018.
"Australian wine continues to benefit from the free trade agreement with China and has emerged as the clear winner among imports,"Rabobank said.
Loading
According to Rabobank US wine now enters the China market costing 64 per cent more than comparable Australian wine.