A report released by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics showed that the new measures could halt export of Australian wine to China entirely. The anti-dumping measures range from 116.2 per cent to 218.4 per cent, making the market almost entirely unviable.

Executive director of ABARES Dr Jared Greenville said that they estimated to be able to move 60 per cent of wine originally set for China to other importers.

"We expect that only 60 per cent of wine destined for China will find a place in our other existing markets by 2025, unless we make the effort to find alternative markets or do things differently," he said.

"Australia exports wine to over 100 countries, the Chinese market was the largest in both export and volume for bottled wine..."

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For wine grape growers, the hit to the hip pocket is going to be dramatic. Across the country, growers are estimated to be set back by 67 million dollars. The Riverina is set to lose out on $11 million in value as a direct result of the measures.

A recent report from the Wine Grapes Marketing Board said that grape production was below wine sales recently, which might diminish the immediate impact as production meets demand. The same report notes that China imported 185,000 tonnes of Australian wine, significantly lower than the 365,000 imported by the UK and the 280,000 tonnes imported by the USA and Canada.

Where the extra financial value comes is that most wine exported to China is already bottled, while the UK and North American countries buy more in bulk to be bottled later.

Dr Greenville explained that things were far from finalised.

"It's an outcome that can be avoided if we look at finding other markets for Australian wine or find ways to generate more value from our wine sold into existing markets," he added.

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