The Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair takes place on November 4-6, 2009. Click here for more info.

Img: Business Week

For all the toothsome crabs and delicate siu mai that make Hong Kong one of the world’s best places to eat, until recently wine was largely enjoyed more as a marker of status than as a complement to a meal. Wine programs and shops in the city’s main district catered to local tycoons and expatriates with a taste for Bordeaux and expense accounts to match.

But venues for wine—shops, tasting bars and even a winery—now flourish in the city, thanks to a happy convergence of factors that includes reduced taxes and a government mandate declaring 2009 “Food & Wine Year”. Auction houses are clamoring to sell fine Bordeaux, Burgundies and Barolos and ever more restaurants are hosting dinners with wine makers flown in for the occasion. Tasting events, trade shows and oenology courses abound. A recent Sotheby’s auction of two American-owned wine collections raised $7.9 million, almost 30% more than estimated.

Still, many of the best and most interesting sites are tucked away, often a short taxi ride out of central Hong Kong.

Click here to access the complete article from the WSJ

[Source] – The Wall Street Journal, by Jake Lee

[Source] – AFP

Hong Kong overtakes NY, London in wine auctions
Hong Kong has overtaken New York and London as the largest wine market for two of world’s biggest auction houses, the firms said Tuesday, highlighting a trend spurred by surging demand from China.

Sotheby’s said its wine auction held in the southern Chinese city over the weekend, together with another one in April, have raised 14.3 million dollars.

The figure surpassed those of New York and London, which respectively recorded sales of 10.5 million dollars from four auctions and of eight million dollars from seven auctions held this year, the auction house told AFP.

Christie’s also said that its recent auction results have also shown that Hong Kong is taking over New York and London as its largest wine market.

“In Sotheby’s first year of selling wine in Asia, Hong Kong has become (its) most important wine centre, ahead of very successful auctions in New York and London,” said Serena Sutcliffe, head of Sotheby’s international wine sales.

“Sotheby’s have exciting plans to build on this momentum to bring to the market top collections in 2010,” she added.

Sotheby’s and its rival Christie’s began to hold regular wine and champagne auctions in Hong Kong after the city’s government abolished duties on wine imports in 2008 in a bid to establish the city as a regional wine hub.

China’s economic boom and growing demand for top French wines has become the key driver of Hong Kong’s wine market, as can be seen from the increasing number of mainland Chinese bidders at the auctions.

At Sotheby’s weekend sales, a Chinese bidder splashed out a record 93,077 dollars for a bottle of 1982 Chateau Petrus Imperial.

Sutcliffe said 99 percent of buyers in the two-day auction were Asian buyers, including those from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The latest auction fetched almost 30 percent more than Sotheby’s estimate of 6.13 million dollars.

David Elswood, head of Christie’s international wine department, said its Hong Kong wine auctions had the highest average lot values among its global sales, at 150,000 dollars per lot.

“Asian buyers are very active not only in Hong Kong, but also in the international wine market,” Elswood told AFP.

This spring, Asian buyers accounted for 61 percent of Christie’s global wine sales in New York, London and Hong Kong, whereas they made up only seven percent of global buyers in 2005, he said.

“Buyers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China also grew substantially between last autumn and this spring at our auctions. We expect this trend to continue.”

Wine & Drinks Business Review – The world’s wine market- an evolving panorama

A consistent theme of this site will be discussion about the ever evolving state of global wine markets. MIR Global decided to start this site as a resource for people to come not only to keep current on major news/development in the wine scene but also to discuss the ever changing nature of it.

First lets talk about supply. During the past decade wine production has exploded in many new countries. Wines from the United States, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand have become household names around the world. Europe is not the only kid on the block anymore.

Now, consider the demand side of things. China, South-East Asia, India and Russia have suddenly emerged as the future major wine markets. With incredibly large populations, robust economic growth and a ever more interconnected global economy wine producers have switched their focus to Asia.

Described in this article from the Wine & Drinks Business Review

Countries, such as China, India and Indonesia, will compensate for the stagnation of Western economies.

The companies with strong international orientation will benefit from the demand coming from Asia, which will balance the markets that are more inclined to a stability situation, such as the Northern-American and the European ones.

Some facts from the same article

* European wine production falls to 161.6 million hl versus 163.6 million hl in 2007

* French production falls to 41.4 million in 2008 from 46 million in 2007.

* Argentina is decreasing to production to 14.6 million hl

* Chile’s production grows to 8.6 million hl in 2008, not sure what it was in 2007, article doesn’t say and a google search did not yield immediate results. If anyone knows please share.

* South African wine production increased 5% to 10.2 million hl.

* Australia’s production grew a pretty stunning 30% to 12.3 million hl.

* New Zealand finishes off the count, growing a astounding 39% to 2 million hl.

Now in terms of exports from some traditional European markets, decline where seen across the board, with Italy taking the biggest hit proportionately.

* Italian exports fell to 17.8 million hl, which breaks down in layman terms to loosing about 7% of the share of Europe’s exports.

* Spanish exports on the other hand gained 8.5% of the European export market of fine wines, exporting 16.9 million hl.

* US exports rose over the threshold of one billion dollar sales (+6%), with a volume of 4.9 million hl (+8%), of which 90% came from California.

* France had a 10.5% fall in the volumes, at 13.7 million hl.

* Australia showed a decrease of 11% at a little less than 7 million hl.

Click here to access the full article: “The world’s wine market- an evolving panorama.”

Courtesy of [wine.drinks-business-review.com]

Southeast Asia is home to many consumers with rising levels of income. When income rises and a given society modernizes or evolves so do its tastes and preferences.

This is currently going on in the greater Asia region as we speak. Add the extra element of a ever more interconnected global economy and the pace of change is truly incredible.

Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam have a combined population of roughly 180 million people. These countries represent a diverse mix of different elasticities, levels of development and traditions.

Malaysia — For instance the majority of Malaysians are Muslims who in accordance with their religious practices do not drink any alcohol. However even in this context a great potential wine market exists.

For starters Malaysia is home to about 28 million people, of which 2/3 are Muslim and therefore do not drink alcohol. The remaining 1/3 still presents a sizable market of about 8-9 million people, greater than the combined markets of Singapore and Hong Kong, two already very developed wine markets.

Second, ethnic Chinese in Malaysia are unarguably one of the wealthier segments of Malay society and are also coincidentally the largest consumers of wine in Malaysia. As members of the upper-echelons of society they unknowingly serve as status symbols for people to emulate as they aspire to move up the social latter.

This great article I have just stumbled upon at the China Wines Information Website, shares some good statistics.

Singapore – Wine market breaks down as follows: 10% sparking wine, 65% red wine, 25% white.

Thailand – According to the New Zealand government which published these statistics, consumers in Thailand lack detailed knowledge about wines and have a unfounded, preconceived notion that the only “real” wine is red wine. At the moment wine makes up about 20% of the alcohol consumed in Thailand every year. About 83% of the wine consumed in red. A major challenge for those trying to break into the Thai market will be educating the consumer about white wines, which in many instances would accompany Thai foods better than red wines.

Vietnam – Most Vietnamese do not drink grape wines because they have yet to acquire a taste for it. Wine is a relatively new product to the average Vietnamese person. Therefore most wine demand within Vietnam comes from expatriates, tourists and a few Vietnamese of the upper classes who have acquired a taste for it.

The importance of using Singapore as a hub for serving all these wine markets is highlighted in this article from New Zealand.

“It is important for New Zealand wine exporters to consider leveraging on Singapore’s position as a regional distribution hub for wines by developing partnerships with distributors who have strong regional distribution networks.“

In February 2008, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government waived duties on wine and beer. With the scrapping of wine duties, Hong Kong becomes the first free wine port among major economies and is fast developing into a wine storage and distribution hub in Asia.

The total value of wine imports from around the world reached US$370 million in 2008, representing a year-on-year increase of almost 80 per cent. According to the US Department of Commerce, the total value of US grape wines exported to Hong Kong had increased by more than 500% in January 2009, when compared to the same period in 2008.

On April 30, 2009, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco will host a luncheon event at Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, the Culinary Institute of America. Hong Kong Financial Secretary, John Tsang will be the keynote speaker to give an update on the development of this exciting and flourishing business in Hong Kong and the business opportunities available to the American wine industry.

Date: April 30, 2009 (Thursday)

Time: 12:15 -2:15pm

Venue: Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant,
the Culinary Institute of America
2555 Main Street, St. Helena

[Accessed from: http://www.wines-info.com & www.calwinexport.com]

INTERVIEW with Pierre Castel.

Sums up the current preoccupations of his company, which celebrates its 60th birthday this year. The accent is on investment overseas.

Sud Ouest : Two thirds of your activities are based in France, but you now wish to develop your export business. Why?

Pierre Castel : Business is difficult in France at the moment and potentiel development now lies outside of our borders. In 2008, due to the global economic crisis, our activity will be on the decline. Wine sales to the hotel/catering business have dropped by 20%. Luckily, our merchant brands, which are important reference points for consumers, are still selling well on the French supermarket shelves. I have been in the wine and beer business for sixty years and I have always adapted to suit the market.

S.O. : Where do your priorities lie in the exportation market?

P.C. : Definitely in China and Russia. We have a small office in Shanghaï which works with five distributors. With the 10 to 20 million bottles we hope to sell there in 2009, China will become our number one export market. Hypermarkets, restaurants, bars and night clubs….all these market niches need to be developed. In Russia, the situation is different because we possess our own bottling centre just outside Moscow, which has a capacity of 300,000 bottles per day. The authorities are setting the market in order and it’s expanding. However, I do not believe India is a viable export market. I have had dealings with Indian businessmen in my activities in the African beer market and I do not intend take it any further with them….

Click here to access the full interview