Hennessy Plans to Move Cognac Bottling from France to China in Major Break with Tradition

On Tuesday, French luxury conglomerate LVMH announced that it would be considering plans to shift bottling to China in an attempt to cope with protectionist measures enforced upon imports of European alcohol.

Last month, Beijing enacted anti-dumping measures by placing steep fees on imports of European brandy. This followed a vote by the European Union in which the body decided to increase tariffs on imports of electric vehicles manufactured by Chinese companies.

Hennessy stated that it would be reviewing its options and determining how best to cope with retaliatory protectionist measures enacted by China, including transporting cognac to China in order for it to be bottled there. A smaller-scale trial of this plan had been set to take place soon.

However, the announcement prompted hundreds of workers at a Hennessy bottling plant in France to go on strike due to renewed fears surrounding job security following the threat of offshoring. About 500 workers walked out of their stations, reported the New York Times.

"Workers are very impacted and emotional," Matthieu Devers, the CGT union leader at Hennessy, said Tuesday in a video posted on X. "They want to show their absolute opposition to the planned tests to move some production to China."

France, who overwhelmingly supported tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, is becoming the biggest victim of tariffs imposed by China as most of the alcohol the tariffs apply to is manufactured in southwest France.