NEWS
PENFOLD’S OWNER TWE LAID OFF 60 STAFFS IN CHINA DUE TO PUNITIVE TARIFFS
By Siulan Law Mathews DipWSET
26-2-2021
Source: Treasury Wines Estates
Owner of Penfolds brand, Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), has laid off up to 60 employees in China as a result of the punitives tariffs imposed on Aussie wines by the Chinese government.
In a restructuring announced internally, TWE said 50 to 60 employees in China will be made redundant. Most of the redundancies are in the sales and marketing departments, but have occurred right across the business.
TWE Chief executive Tim Ford confirmed the restructuring plan in China and said it is due to the provisional tariffs imposed by Beijing on Australian wines.
“The introduction of provisional measures on Australian wines by the Chinese government as part of its investigations, which remain ongoing, have required TWE to adjust our operating model in China,” he said.
“Unfortunately this means changes to our local China-based team,” he said.
“Our focus is on supporting the impacted team members and continuing to provide them with the utmost care and respect during this time,” he added.
Ford said earlier this month that TWE has not given up on the China market because there is still demand for the flagship Penfolds brand.
“There’s absolutely a long-term ambition of having a China-sourced Penfolds portfolio,” he said.
Preliminary work is said to have taken place on developing a Chinese version of Penfolds using grapes from China.
Meanwhile, Chinese media reports said that more than 23,000 litres of Australian wine was turned away by Chinese ports because of labelling issues last month.
These wines were from TWE and Badger’s Brooke Estate and were turned away by customs in Shenzhen and Chongqing ports.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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