Grape Wall of China

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Va-va-vroom! China wine imports this year: France continues to race ahead

Posted on | September 12, 2011 | No Comments

France continues to kick the competition around in China as it not only has remained far in the lead as a source of imported bottled wine but also has increased its market share this year, according to China Customs for January through June.* The statistics show 60 percent growth, year on year, with France outperforming that figure, up 71.2%, and representing nearly half of market volume at 48.1%.

Australia continued its volume decline, with only 21.8% growth, but remained the second biggest source of imported bottled wine, though Spain (up 88.5%), Italy (up 78.8%) and Chile (up 62.7%) all beat the average to close in. The United States, only up 22%, lost market share and rounded out The Big Six, which account for over 90% of imports.

(By the way, this might be stating the obvious, but it says something about this market when “only” growing by 22% results in lost share.)

The saving grace for Australia is that it ranks slightly ahead of France in terms of declared value per bottle, according to China Customs, though France (up 44.9%) has grown faster than Australia (up 17.1%) in this category this year and almost caught up. French and Australian wine are between 50% to 70% higher in value than that of Italy, Spain, Chile and United States.

Given its impressive performance in terms of volume and value, France remains the star when it comes to imported wine in China, and shines brighter with every release of import data.

Here are The Big Six (statistics for January to June, 2011)

Country % of market Millions of cases
France 48.1 5.5
Australia 13.1 1.5
Italy 8.3 0.95
Spain 7.5 0.86
Chile 7.4 0.85
United States 5.7 0.66

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See also: China wine imports 2010 — France spanks everyone (again)

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* Hat tip to Tempranillo

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