Decanter World Wine AwardsChina to become biggest Bordeaux importer
- Thursday 6 January 2011
China alone became the largest value importer outside of the EU in May 2010, and when taken together with Hong Kong is due to overtake the UK for value of imports.
Jean-Pierre Rousseau of negociant Diva reported this week that over 50% of his business now takes place in Asia.
The proprietor of a key St Emilion property told Decanter.com that 60% of his sales are in the Far East, and it is estimated by sources in Bordeaux that the First Growths sell a similar percentage of their wines to China and Hong Kong.
From November 2009 to October 2010, China and Hong Kong together imported wine worth €333m.
This represented a value increase of 98% for China and of 126% for Hong Kong. The UK, to October 2010, imported wine to a value of €221m.
Overall, Bordeaux exports rose 10% year-on-year to 1.68m hectolitres and €1.3bn (a rise of 7% from 2009).
The majority of Bordeaux wines (around 60%) remain within France, but these export figures reveal again how quickly the traditional markets for Bordeaux wine are giving way to those in Asia.
Thomas Jullien, Hong Kong representative of Bordeaux trade body the CIVB told Decanter.com that the figures are typical for any developing market.
‘Early on, the focus is high end, classified growths, and entry level wines, then as the market grows and reaches maturity, the intermediate level begins to fill out, which is what we are seeing at the moment with mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.’
Despite concerns that Bordeaux is becoming over-reliant on a single market, Jullien pointed out that it is France, not China, that takes the vast majority of Bordeaux wines.
‘Overall production of Bordeaux wines to China stands at around 5%, while 60% goes to France. If we worry about over-reliance on one market, it should not be China, particularly when you look at the depth of the Chinese market, and the growth rate of its economy.
‘If you take a longer-term view, you see that high-end Bordeaux wines have always been sought-after by emerging economies – that has been the long-term history of the Bordeaux wine trade.’
Have your say!
Brian
January 10 02:00
The Bordeaux wine market will continue to boom especially with the Chinese because they are beginning to understand the wine industry; for consumption and investment wise. Their participation has made headlines the past year, especially with auctions houses and even made a career for Ms. Jeannie Cho Lee who is the most popular wine critic in asia. As far as bordeaux wine market is concerned, the future is very bright.
Ji Hanson
January 09 13:11
I think that China is just the beginning. The wines of France bear a basic instinctual desire for most of us.
We (Americans) are not much different in that respect from any other person on this planet. It seems that initially, local wines then regional and further national wines hit our desired lists... only to eventually lead to France. This will continue to grow into South America and Asia. It is only a matter of time.
Jing Daily
January 06 21:17
China will certainly continue booming in the Bordeaux market, but it is true that many drinkers don't buy Bordeaux due to their appreciation of wine but instead as a popular status symbol - thus it is probably easy to over-rely on the China market. (http://www.jingdaily.com/en/luxury/wine-expecting-a-chinese-new-year-boost/)