A LOCAL winery has given a big thumbs-up to the recent announcement of the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement.
John Cassegrain of Cassegrain Wines in Port Macquarie said the news of the agreement was most welcome.
“In particular the agreement will help provide a welcoming boost for Australian exports to Japan, and will particularly benefit regional Australia,” he said.
“We are very pleased with the concessions the Australian Government negotiated on behalf of the wine industry.
“In brief, the 15 per cent import tariff will be phased out over seven years. This will give our wines an immediate advantage over key competitors, such as France, Italy and the USA, and because the agreement negotiated by the government results in a faster tariff elimination than Chile secured, which is emerging as a key competitor in many export markets, it will quickly help level the playing field with Chile.
“Japan has been the key export market for Cassegrain Wines since 1987 when the company first began exporting. At the time we began exporting to Japan, the Australian wine industry did not have a profile in Japan of any significance, so rather than try and sell wine through the normal trade channels, we took a different approach of selling to major corporates.
“We found that Japanese executives, and in particular those sent by their company to work in Australia, quickly learnt to appreciate our wines. One of our highest-profile customers in Japan has been JR Tokai, which operates the Shinkansen bullet train.
“This corporate strategy has proven to be very successful for Cassegrain Wines and we are now ready to build from this base. We have been in discussions since late last year with a number of parties to make our wines more widely available throughout Japan. The discussions have been progressing well, and have been on the expectation that an Australian trade agreement would be reached with Japan.
“Our government had clearly indicated this was a goal it hoped to achieve, and they have come good. This gives us increasing confidence that we will see growth in wine sales to Japan in the years ahead.”
