'The perfect crime': Aussie business battles counterfeit wine in China
30 December 2018
Following the discovery of 14,000 bottles of fake Penfolds wine for sale in China in November, Wine Australia had to concede it can't keep track of the extent counterfeit Australian wine is being sold in the country.
"We don't have any data which makes it the perfect crime," says Wine Australia's general counsel Rachel Triggs. "It is extremely hard to work out how much is going on."
One solution to the problem has been developed by Australian business YPB which has created a specially designed serialised QR code with an embedded covert tracer.
The ProtectCode covert tracer enables wine producers to track and trace every bottle and batch of wine throughout the entire supply chain using a small handheld scanner.
At the point of sale the QR code is readable by any smartphone and when scanned takes the customer to a quick digital authentication process.
If the wine is genuine they see a screen that says its authentic; if it’s fake they are taken to a screen where they can report it back to the wine producer.
Accolade deal
John Houston started YPB in 2011 and the business is now listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with a market capitalisation of $11.19 million.
YPB reported a post tax loss of $4.3 million in August however Hewson says the business has significant growth potential with the global counterfeiting industry projected to be worth about $4.3 trillion by 2022.
"As an industry it is an enormously big problem because there is so much organised crime involved in it and the cost to brands is enormous," he says.
"Anecdotal stories are that for some products 50 per cent of the wine in China is counterfeit."
"It's a breakthrough for YPB as it is the largest wine opportunity we have ever had. It will validate the need for this solution in the China market," Hewson says.
Accolade declined to comment on the deal.
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