Chinese ecommerce tax delay revives Australian vitamin stocks

Beijing’s decision to delay a rise in ecommerce import taxes has boosted Australian and New Zealand-based vitamin and food stocks, underlining the importance of Chinese online sales to the region’s consumer brands.

Shares in Blackmores, a supplements maker, rose as much as 19.1 per cent, and in a2 Milk Company, a dairy group, 5.3 per cent on Tuesday after China’s ministry of commerce said the planned tax rise would be delayed until January 2018.

The increase, announced last April, met with protests from retailers in the booming cross-border ecommerce market worth an estimated $90bn annually.

Beijing’s decision provides a temporary respite for foreign companies that had been fretting the revamped rules would crimp the flow of food and consumer goods into China.

China’s total cross-border ecommerce market has grown from Rmb53bn ($7.7bn) in 2011 to an estimated Rmb626bn in 2016, according to consultancy Mintel, making it a crucial channel for overseas consumer companies.

Peter Nathan, chief executive of a2 Milk, said the decision signalled a “strengthening of the commitment to the cross-border ecommerce channel from the Chinese regulators”.

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