Pau Roca, official representative of the Spanish Wine Federation, reports that a hundred containers of wine from Europe are “standing” in Sanghai due to “technical barriers”. Some of them belong to Spanish companies.
Last Tuesday, 12th of November, during the execution of the Adhesion Protocol (ACEVIN ) to the European program “Wine in Moderation” , the representative confirmed that the reason why those containers became immobilized is because of the detection of “dry residue” in some of them. Something not really understandable since they have a different origin.
Supposedly, this fact has nothing to do with “anti-dumping” and “anti-subsidy” practices frequently used by Chinese companies lately to fight European companies.
Pau has also announced that next Friday, November 15th, will start talks for a process “business to business” in Beijing , with the objective to find a solution to the current situation and prevent further sanctions for the companies concerned.
Spanish companies are advised by a law firm that responds to the FEV and Spanish trade authorities. It aims to “eliminate any possibility of transitional measures” from China. According to Pau Roca, there will not be any restrictive measures that may damage the Christmas season and the export of Spanish wines to the Asian giant. On the other hand, Roca confirms there is a “disparity of interests” caused by solar panels fight between Chinese and European companies. Furthermore, to get the situation even worse, there are “black clouds in the telecommunications sector” which can also create difficulties in the conversations.
Roca has clarified that the wine industry “does not want to be hostage to other trade wars” and also “the European Commission should be the first to support us”. “There is no way we can conquer new markets without the right trade protection”, has admitted.