The Chinese wine market - expected to become world's largest within three years
- China is forecast to overtake the UK to become the world’s second largest wine market by 2020, reaching a value of US$21 billion .
- According to Vinexpo research, the market is anticipated to grow by an average of 7% each year over the next four years, with 6.1 billion litres of wine expected to be sold in 2020.
- Each year an increasing percentage of the wine sold in China is being imported from abroad – last year this figure passed 10% for the first time.
- Customs data shows that in 2016, 683 million litres of wine were imported into China, with a total value of US$2.4 billion – a year on year increase of 15% in volume and 16% in value.
- This growth is expected to continue as poularity for imported wine filters down to China’s other cities, and wine consumption becomes more commonplace.
- There has been a clear shift in recent years away from the traditional Chinese alcohol baiju towards wine, and increasingly imported wine.
- Until now, traditional winemaking regions such as Bordeaux have dominated the Chinese market, due to their heritage and prestige.
- However, as the market matures importers are beginning to see a shift towards wines from less well known regions, such as South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
- The price of wine in China is expected to drop as many small importers join forces, taking advantage of the economies of scale afforded to larger companies.
- Another factor forcing down prices is the Chinese government’s crackdown on excessive spending by officials