IN 20 YEARS CHINA WILL BECOME THE FIRST WINE MARKET IN THE WORLD. THE HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL WINE & SPIRITS FAIR WITH ITALY AS “PARTNER COUNTRY” HELD NOVEMBER 3-5TH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT ON ASIAN MARKETS

China is not only the new El Dorado of luxury wines, but also a market that caters to all wines. According to the 2011 International Wine & Spirit Institute Research, within a year’s time China will surpass even the UK in volume to reach 3 billion bottles by 2016 and within 20 years become the number one world wine market.

According to IWSR, the only obstacle that foreign wineries find in China is “the lack of knowledge about imported wines. The key to success is educating and training”. Time will tell how effective any predictions will be. In the meantime, the best way to get to China is through Hong Kong (30% of wines imported from Hong Kong, for example, is re-exported to China), where from November 3-5th the International Wine & Spirits Fair organized by the Hong Kong Trade & Development Center will be held.
It is the biggest and most prestigious showcase of wines on all the Asian markets where, thanks to Vinitaly (Verona Fiere), Italy will be a “partner country”. This is a great opportunity for Italy to step up their performance on the Hong Kong market, which earned $ 20 million in 2010 (45% more than 2009), and take over more space on other Asian markets, first of all China, where France rules wine imports. In the Old Country (Europe) all the historical producers are reducing consumption and in markets like the U.S. there is still room for growth, but the growth trend in the Asia-Pacific area is particularly on the rise and according to data from Euromonitor International, China itself has a consumption rate increase of 8.2% per year between 2009 and 2014, India (+21.4%), the Philippines (+8.3%) and Vietnam (+5.3%).