China's wine imports down, and worse expected as Coronavirus grips the country
China’s bottled wine imports have slumped by 14% in value and 11% in volume in the past year as the country’s slowing economy and the US trade war grips tighter, while the Coronavirus has seen wine imports and sales grinding to a virtual halt.
The country imported a total of 612.4m litres of wine with a value of US$2.43bn, according to the China Association of Imports and Exports of Wine & Spirits (CAWS) compared to $2.85bn in 2018. The US was hardest hit, with volumes slumping by 39% year on year, from 1.03m nine litre cases in 2018 to 0.63m cases last year.
South Africa wasn’t far behind in terms of a drop in exports, with shipments to China down by nearly a third (32%) from 1.05m cases to 0.72 cases.
France, meanwhile, the biggest exporter of wine to China with 19.9m nine litre cases in 2018 also saw its exports plummeting, down by almost a fifth (19%) to 14.59m cases the following year.
Conversely, Australia, the second biggest exporter of wine to China after France, saw its exports up by 2% to 12.98m cases last year, helped in part by the elimination of duties on the country’s wine as from the beginning of the year. Australia now accounts for 35.5% of the total market for imports into China.
Moldova was a new entrant into the top ten countries shipping to China, with a massive 102% increase in its exports to the Asian giant, up from 0.26m cases to 053m.
In value terms, the US was the biggest loser, with the value of its exports to China down by over half (53%) as the impact of China’s tariffs hit home. France saw the value of its shipments plummet by nearly a third (31%) to US$627m, down from $915m in 2018. Spain also saw its exports decline by 17% in value to $130m.
Australia was once again a winner, with the value of its exports to China ramping up by 14% to $780m.
Italy, ranked as China’s fourth biggest importer, saw its volumes to China up by 3.1% in volume, but down by 7.33% in value. This is followed by Spain, the US, Argentina, Portugal, South Africa and Germany.