NEWS
TIM FORD: TWE TO EXPAND CHINA TEAM BY 2/3 TO REBUILD BRAND PRESENCE
By Siulan Law Mathews DipWSET
9-5-2024
Source: TWE
Australia's biggest wine producer Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) will increase its workforce in China by two thirds this year in order to navigate the re-entry into the Chinese market.
TWE CEO Tim Ford said in the Macquarie Australia Conference earlier this week that the company is planning to expand the Chinese team from about 120 staff to around 200 by as early as July and August.
"We expect to get to somewhere around a 200-person team in China, probably by July-August," said Ford.
He added that there will also be a step up of marketing in China particularly over the next 12 months to really build the presence of the brand again.
Ford noted that the value of China's wine market was down about 25 percent on 2019 levels, partly due to the loss of Australian products.
"The reality is, when you've got zero share of what is 75 percent of what was a big market, that still is a significant opportunity," he added.
Ford said that TWE has started holding back wine shipments to other markets six months ago in anticipation of a China reopening, but will need time to rebuild its distribution network and brand presence in China.
Due to the huge popularity of the Penfolds brand among Chinese consumers, China used to be TWE’s biggest export market.
The company lost its biggest market starting in 2020, when China slapped massive punitive tariffs on Australian wines when bi-lateral relations turned sour under the previous Morrison government.
TWE had not given up this important market during this period, it created Penfolds range made in France, USA as well as China for the Chinese market and maintained a China team of about 120 people.
The Chinese authorities ended the tariffs in March as relations between the two countries thawed.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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