Asia is the future: Vinexpo

Asia is the future of the global wine industry, and will grow at a faster rate than North America, according to new figures released by Vinexpo.

In a new study commissioned by Vinexpo to coincide with this year’s Vinexpo Asia-Pacific, the International Wine and Spirits Record (IWSR) has predicted the trends of the Asian wine and spirits markets up to 2013.

The research found that between 2009 and 2013, wine consumption in Asia will increase by 25%, reaching nearly 1.3bn litres. By 2011, the Asia-Pacific market is set to be worth more than US$6 billion.

In the ten-year period between 2004 and 2013 Asian wine consumption is forecast to grow by 86m cases. By contrast, in the same period, the North American continent is only expected to have grown by 85m cases.

Vinexpo CEO Robert Beynat said that Asia was ‘the future,’ adding that Hong Kong would become an important gateway because of its position ‘right in the middle of the Asian markets.’

‘The stronger the economy in Asia continues to become, the more money they will have, and the more products they will want.’

By 2012, wine consumption in Hong Kong is forecast to reach more than 33m bottles of wine, of which more than 70% is expected to be red wine.

Beynat added that Japan would also show significant growth in wine consumption, but warned that it needed to address problems in national distribution.

‘The current distribution chain is not very good in Japan,’ he said. ‘We hope that this will change – in particular we will be keeping an eye on the enormous strength of [major distributor] Suntory ASC.’

Vinexpo Asia-Pacific takes place in Hong Kong on 25-27 May.

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Written by John Abbott