China’s wine industry is probably facing the most challenging time since anti-corruption campaign in 2012 that cracked down on ostentatious spending and luxury lifestyle.
Reeling from last year’s sluggish performance that saw volume dropping by nearly 9% for roughly the same amount of import value, the country’s imported wine sector in the first half of the year did not catch a breath either.
Imports suffered double-digit drops in both volume and value in the first six months of the year, 14.09% for volume and 19.46% for value, according to data released by the country’s official trade organisation China Association for Imports and Exports of Wine & Spirits (CAWS).
Hampered by China’s slowing economy and uncertainties with ongoing China-US trade war, more than 2,000 wine importers (bottled wine only) went bust in the first five months of the year, as vino-joy.com reported earlier.
This means the current number of operating wine importers has shrunk down to the same level as 2014, which numbered at 4,152 amid anti-corruption campaign, based on figures released by CCCFN.
The second half of the year is expected to see more reshuffling. The market will become more concentrated, with more “opportunist” companies and brands expected to be booted out of the market, said head of CAWS, Wang Xuwei, when interviewed by Chinese media.
During the first half of the year, another major change took place when Australia overtook France to become China’s biggest importer by value. Meanwhile, Chile still remains the country’s biggest importer in terms of volume.
Among the top 10 wine importing countries to China based on CAWS figures, nearly all suffered drops in volume and value except one country in the first half of the year.
Scroll down the pages to find out more about China’s top 10 importers for bottled wines from January to June.
*Note: the ranking is based on value for bottled wine imports only
