CHINA IS SLOWING DOWN, EVEN FOR ITALY. AFTER THE EXPLOIT OF 2011, WHEN WINE IMPORTS MARKED + 39.4% OF IMPORTS FROM 6 MAJOR WORLD PRODUCERS, CHINA IS DROPPING DOWN TO "NORMAL" LEVELS: +9.5% IN 2012

After years of being accustomed to frenzied growth rates, data of 2012 wine imports in China may cause some concern, even for Italy.
Overall, as evidenced by data from Chinese customs, imports have gone from 241 million liters in 2011 to 266 million in 2012, equal to + 9.4%, an evident slowdown when compared to the 39.4% recorded between 2010 and 2011, when it went from 146 to 241 million liters of wine imported by the Asian giant, and France went from 67 million to 117 million liters. Among the six major exporting countries, which together count 90% of bottles imported from China, Spain is increasing (26.7 million liters exported, compared to 18.9 in 2011, and a market share of 10.04%) and also Chile (20.8 million, or 7.83% of the market, up from 7.24% in 2011), at the expense of France (which with 128 million liters remains firmly at the top of the list, 47.78% of the market share, compared to 48.83% in 2011), Australia (33.8 million, or 12.73%, in 2011 it was worth 13.51%), Italy (19.3 million and a market share down from 7.82% in 2011 to 7.28% today) and the U.S. (12.8 million and a market share of 4.84%, compared to 5.13% in 2011).