info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
Image from Internet
It is reported that by 2021, China's wine consumption will increase by more than a third, reaching $23 billion. By then, it will reach 192 million cases, an increase of nearly 30%.
Over the next four years, China is predicted to overtake France and the United Kingdom to become the world's second-largest market for wine, behind the United States.
Noticing this trend, Hein Koegelenberg, chairman at the South African wine producer L'Huguenot Vineyards, saw an opportunity. In 2013, together with Chinese distribution company Yangzhou Perfect China, the company created a range of wines specifically for the Chinese market. The result was Perfect Wines of South Africa and the brand now accounts for 25% of all South African wines sales in China.
"China are the leaders in e-commerce," says Koegelenberg. "I think of the foreign wines sold last year, 49% was sold through the internet," he adds.
Producers in South Africa are increasingly looking towards the U.S. and Asia as their target export markets.
China's wine imports jumped more than 30% this year and the trend will likely continue. From January to March this year, China imported 200.57 million liters of wines worth around $792 million -- a year on year growth of 32.34% in volume and 35.84% in value, according to figures by the China Association for Import and Export of Wine and Spirits (CAWS).
