China to become second largest importer of wine


03/28/2017

China will become the world's second-largest wine importer, forging ahead of Britain by 2020, Vinexpo CEO Guillaume Deglis said. Currently, China ranks fifth in the world in terms of consumption of this drink.



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"Wine is becoming very fashionable (in China)," Deglis told CNBC. According to Head of Vinexpo, middle class in China has greatly increased consumption of wine, which, in turn, greatly changed the market over the past two or three years.

Import of wine to mainland China is actively growing, while consumption of local wine has slightly been reduced, he said. Demand for imported wine will grow by an average of 7% per year over the next four years. According to Deglis, the local wine market can be characterized as niche, and Chinese investors understand how sophisticated the technology of wine making is.

Now the Chinese market is the fourth in the world after the United States, Britain and France. Jump to the second place in three years can be explained by growing retail sales of wine, both imported and local, experts say. The market will grow by 39.8 percent, Xinhua news agency reported.

This is the real value of wine consumption growth is supported by the socio-economic development of China, said Cheng Fengying, an expert of Center for Analysis of World Economy at China Institute of Contemporary International Relations: "The rapid rise of the Chinese economy is resulting in continuous improvement of living standards. The population's consumption levels are also day by day increasing. There are higher requirements for living standards. In the past 10 years, China's import of wine has been very significant, especially in coastal region and cities, where per capita GDP is already very high. The structure of consumption is being consistently diversified, it is not just appearance of wine in the consumer basket, but also other goods. "

In 2016, France has maintained a dominant position as a major source of imported wines in China. Since the middle of last year, trains are shuttling between Wuhan and Lyon. This way has already been called a "Wine Silk Road" for reducing time of delivery of Bordeaux wines to China.

source: cnbc.com