China Mainland wine imports up 13%, with French wine leading

HONG KONG - A consumer survey commissioned by the HKTDC on mainland wine consumption found an increasingly demanding market that prefers red wine. Surveying 2,400 consumers in 10 mainland cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shenyang, Nanjing, Harbin, Suzhou and Yantai, the study found that other types of wine remain a niche market on the mainland.

Last year, the volume of mainland wine imports increased to 750 million litres, worth RMB18.87 billion. According to the survey, more than half of the respondents prefer drinking red wine, including at home, on special occasions and at social gatherings, reflecting the highest purchase frequency and proportion.

 
Young respondents had a greater preference for Champagne and other types of sparkling wine, while respondents with high monthly household incomes favoured Rosé.
 
Another point to note is the varying wine preferences in different mainland cities, with Guangzhou consumers preferring, apart from red wine, Champagne and other types of sparkling wine, while Suzhou consumers like white wine.

HKTDC Senior Economist Alice Tsang noted that while Mainland consumers mainly consumed wine on business or social occasions, private consumption is now common.
 
Mainland consumers have become more savvy where wine consumption is concerned, with branding and pricing no longer the main criteria for consideration.
 
“Consumers demonstrate their wine knowledge by choosing vintages that are of good value. In general, respondents pay RMB101 to RMB200 for a bottle of wine for their own consumption, while the average price is Rmb193.6.”

In terms of wine provenance, 75% of respondents said they prefer wines produced in France, followed by the Chinese mainland (46%) and Italy (30%). As for New World wines, mainland consumers prefer those from Australia (23%) and Chile (22%).

Tsang said that mainland consumers are willing to explore wines from different countries.

The survey also found that “health” (77%) was cited as a prime reason for drinking wine. Among female respondents, 61% said that they drink wine for “beauty” reasons.
 
And while the bottle size of most wines on the market is 750 ml, 80% of female respondents said they prefer smaller bottle sizes. http://research.hktdc.com/ (ATI).