LONDON, May 6 Reuters High Chinese tariffs on EU brandy would leave French companies with vast amounts of cognac that could be hard to sell elsewhere, according to Reuters39; calculations, analysts, and investors who fear firms could be forced to discount.

China opened an antidumping investigation into brandy imported from the European Union in January, sparking fears cognac could suffer a similar blow to that taken by Australian wine when China introduced tariffs of up to 218.4.

Australian wine exports to China, worth 1.1 billion in 2019, were almost completely wiped out by high tariffs.

While a worstcase scenario, some analysts have been weighing what such an outcome would mean for the cognac industry and major French spirits makers such as Pernod Ricard and Remy Cointreau.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was due to visit France on Monday. French authorities would raise the country39;s investigation into cognac during the visit, French officials said during a recent press briefing.

The cognac industry39;s future depends in part on tariffs being avoided through such talks, industry association the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac BNIC said in a statement on Thursday.

China accounted for 19.4 of exports in 2023, according to BNIC data. The Chinese market is also more profitable than others.

While low tariffs could be covered by price increases with relatively little disruption, higher tariffs could deal a substantial blow to that demand, Laurence Whyatt,…