The Stage 2 Agricultural Trade and Market Access Cooperation (ATMAC) grant of $1,817,000, awarded to Australian Grape & Wine in April 2022, will help grow demand for Australian wine and reduce trade barriers Australian grape and wine businesses face in a diverse range of export markets. This grant builds on the first-phase ATMAC investment in our sector, following a $998,000 grant awarded to Australian Grape & Wine in 2021.
It is the central plank in our sector’s effort to withstand the impact of China’s decision to impose import duties on Australian wines, which came into effect in March 2021. These duties have seen the $1.2 billion China market reduced to almost nothing in the space of 12 months, with the impacts being felt by the whole grape and wine sector, including those businesses that do not export.
The only way we can begin to mitigate these impacts is to grow demand elsewhere and this grant will support the sector to do this. Australian Grape & Wine will undertake a broad range of activities on behalf of the grape and wine sector as part of this ATMAC grant.
We will build on the successes enabled by the first-phase of ATMAC funding, to further our marketing and promotional efforts in Japan and South Korea. In addition, we will work closely with the Australian Government to address persistent trade and market access barriers in export markets, reducing the costs of doing business and enabling more producers to explore opportunities to new markets.
A third component of the grant is to build on the FTA announcement with India. India is a long-term export opportunity and we will undertake a range of activities to engage with Indian grape growers and winemakers, along with government officials and technical experts, to share knowledge, build relationships and grow the wine category in India.
Keep an eye on our Growing our Exports webpage as our activities under the grant unroll in 2022-23.