Chilean wine imports rise in Japan

Imports of Chilean wine in Japan have surged on the back of an economic partnership and are closing in on French imports.

According to The Japan Times, a bilateral economic partnership agreement (EPA) that saw tariffs on Chilean wine lowered has seen imports grow 20% on average year-on-year.

In January to May of this year, imports reached 17,349 kilolitres, not far off the 19,093 kilolitres of French wine imported over the same period.

The EPA was concluded in 2007 and saw the tariff on Chilean wine fall 5.8% and imports shot up 31% on the back of it to 10,517 kilolitres. All other imported wine has a 15% tariff or ¥125 a litre.

Tariffs on Chilean wine will be scrapped completely in 2019.

A recent trade agreement between Japan and Australia will see import tariffs on Australian wine abolished in seven years time and there is talk of an EPA between Japan and the EU being concluded by the end of this year.